Anomaly
by Oi-Watch-It-Spaceman
Summary: The Doctor and Rose are together again after "Journey's End" but their relationship has changed. Rose has worries and doubts - the Doctor has a daughter. TenXRose
1. Chapter 1

**First of quite a few chapters, I hope. **

Donna was gone.

Rose was surprised by how much it hurt – she had barely known Donna really, they had met a few times in that alternate universe, but apart from that they had only really talked to each other today. Still, it pained her, and it was even worse to see how much it pained the Doctor to have to do this.

Donna had been so fantastic – once she had absorbed the energy from the Doctor's hand and become part Time Lord, she had saved the day almost single-handedly, with only a little bit of help from the Doctor. It wasn't until afterwards that Rose had realised what would have to be done. Both the Doctor and Donna seemed to already know how the ending to this story went, even if they did not like it, and Rose was starting to wish that she'd had a copy of the script that they had apparently already read.

Donna protested, and the Doctor's face was an ocean sadder than Rose had remembered, and she had just tried to comfort them both and help in any way she could, though of course there wasn't really any way to make this better. It had happened, and after helping the Doctor carry Donna to the front door of her house, she retreated to the TARDIS through the drizzle rather than witness what the Doctor was going to have to say to Donna's family. She wondered whether he had ever thought about the fact that he might have had to do this to her family one day.

That thought had suddenly brought up the goodbye on the beach with her mum, only about an hour ago and yet it felt like a year. The fact that she now could not see her mum ever again made an enormous difference. Even if Rose did not visit her mum that often, the option had always been there. Now, even though she was sure that she had made the choice that would make her happy, she was having trouble keeping her mum and Tony and Pete from her mind. Rose struggled for a few minutes before deciding that she would have to put this out of her head, at least for now. Right at this second she needed to be there for the Doctor, and to be confident in her decision to stay with him. Breaking down in a heap on the floor and crying for her mum was not going to be helpful.

She waited in the console room for him, knowing that the next bit was going to be hard. It was always going to be difficult, and yet she found comfort in the fact that there was nowhere else she would rather be than here, even in the midst of all this grief and confusion. She sat on the jump seat and look up at the central column. She had missed the TARDIS almost as much as she had missed him.

The door creaked open and the Doctor stepped inside, soaked from the rain with his hair lying limply on his forehead. He did not even bother to take off his suit jacket though, instead stepping swiftly across the console room with more purpose than Rose had seen in him for a long time, pulling her tightly into a hug and crushing her against his slightly damp, but altogether welcome, chest.

Rose had hoped that their next hug would have been joyous and manic and just happy, but there was a good deal of sadness and loss mixed in, and all she could do was hold the Doctor tighter and breathe in the smell of him, still unchanged after all this time. They would be OK – they always were, she had said it once and the Doctor had been quick to qualify the statement. She had always known that she was right. Here they were again, on the TARDIS, together. OK.

Eventually the Doctor let go, stepping back and smiling at her for a moment before turning to the TARDIS console and beginning to push and pull the controls in the fashion that he was accustomed to. It seemed that he was trying to compartmentalise – pushing his grief to the side and blocking it off in order to deal with later. Well, Rose knew plenty about that, so she wasn't going to try and stop him. They would talk about it later, if Rose had anything to do with it. Last time she had taken this life and their happiness for granted. Now she knew how precious it all was, and she wasn't going to allow either of them to waste much time with holding back and hiding things from each other.

The Doctor landed the TARDIS with the usual bumps and clatters before turning to Rose with a strange look on his face that she had never seen before. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't crushing grief. "I've got to go and do something now, and you can't come with me. Please don't worry; it'll all become clear in a little while." Rose might've pushed it if he had said this back then, before they had been separated, but this was now. This was different and the Doctor had sadness in him of a different sort than the darkness and grief that she knew. He needed to adjust, and she certainly wasn't clinging to him like a limpet if he needed to be alone for something.

Saying that, the hour or so that he was gone was not easy.

It helped that she was in the TARDIS – it reassured her that she was really here and that the Doctor was definitely coming back. After a while she left the console room and took a wander, finding herself quite soon at the entrance to the library. She sat down on a leather sofa and toed off her shoes. Taking off her boots really made it hit home. She was here. She was back and safe and relaxing in the TARDIS, the one place she loved more than any other. She shrugged out of her jacket too. It made her feel vulnerable, but also slightly softer and much calmer than she had been. The jacket was armour – not unlike another leather jacket that she had loved but never worn – and removing it felt like becoming a bit less "Defender of the Earth" and a bit more Rose.

She pushed her hair behind her ears and rubbed her eyes. It had been an extremely long day and could feel the heaviness in her arms and legs making itself known. Even her head was starting to protest, lolling on one of her shoulders, and Rose just did not have the energy to pick it up again. However, the Doctor had said that all would become clear and she wanted to know more, so she opened her eyes wide and made an effort to stay awake.

About 15 minutes later Rose heard his familiar footsteps approaching. They were moving quite quickly, but then stopped just outside the door. "Doctor?" she called out hesitantly.

"I'm here Rose, I'm just... I've got something to show you, but you've got to be patient and let me explain."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Yeah, 'cause I'm definitely gonna judge you and have a hissy fit. Come on, Doctor, you know me, I'll be fine."

There was a definite pause. "OK," came the answer, determined and resolute.

The Doctor pushed open the door and stepped inside. There was nothing odd about him at all, apart from the expression of slight apprehension on his face, and the small, blonde haired child that he was carrying close to his chest. She looked to be about 18 months – Rose knew a bit about toddlers from seeing Tony grow from a baby into a little boy – and she was fast asleep in his arms, snuggled into his shirt collar in a way that might've made Rose feel slightly jealous, were it not for the fact that she was staring at the child in complete shock.

"Jenny, this is Rose Tyler, and Rose... well, this is my daughter."

If Rose had been one for fainting, she would have been lying prone on the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

**In this chapter I explain about Jenny - it's obviously going to be slightly AU, because this isn't how things happened in the actual episode. The eagle-eyed amongst you will also have noticed a lack of Tentoo, also slightly AU. **

"What? Wh—wh—how did this happen? Who—I mean, what the—"

Rose stuttered to a stop, like a car that had completely run out of petrol. She had absolutely nothing left to say that would not have just come out as a confused squeak.

"No no, wait." The Doctor held up a hand to try and stop her whirling thoughts, the other curled securely around the little girl – Jenny, had he called her? "Before you say anything, I did not plan this and there was no-one else involved. There hasn't... I mean, there wasn't anyone else." He seemed desperate for her to know, eyes almost pleading. "Come on, I'm a 900 year old alien who's the last of his species, I spend a lot of time moping. Poor Martha got the brunt of it; I'm surprised she actually survived. It's going to take more than a couple of years before I can move on from being separated from the woman I love." He scrunched his eyes shut in embarrassment for a moment, trying to ignore Rose's raised eyebrow and knowing smile. "Yeah. Whatever, the point is, Jenny was created from a machine."

He gingerly sat down next to Rose on the sofa, trying not to do anything to wake up his daughter, and told Rose the story of how he had ended up a father again, something that he had never intended to happen. "It was this machine that extrapolates DNA and uses it to create an offspring of that person, who is genetically mother and father to the child." Rose nodded, her gaze flickering between him and Jenny, cataloguing the similarities in their faces even as she listened. "The products of the machine were intended to fight in a war – which we stopped, as we often tend to do – so they are normally created as fully grown adults. But something in the Time Lord DNA made the machine malfunction, so Jenny came out as a baby rather than a fully grown adult. "

"I bet that wasn't helpful," Rose said quietly.

The Doctor pulled a face. "No it was not. Me, Donna and Martha were trying to stop war from breaking out, and suddenly I have a baby, who I am struggling to accept is my daughter, to cart around with me. She was spectacularly unhelpful," he said fondly, looking down at Jenny's head and stroking her hair softly. Rose felt a strange mix of emotions swirl around in her stomach at the sight of the Doctor being so utterly calm and confident with Jenny – confusion, pride, a little bit of longing (if she was honest with herself.) Despite him having been a father before, she still sort of saw him as an over-excitable idiot who loved adventuring and doing dangerous things with no back-up plan. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she would not have believed that this was happening.

"Me and Donna managed to look after her for a couple of months – she was about 16 months or so when she was created, and she seems to be aging at a normal rate, though this situation isn't exactly common so I really don't know what to expect. It's meant less adventuring, and it's a good thing I don't need much sleep, she did not like sleeping in the TARDIS at first – but when the stars started to go out I took her to the one person I trusted most."

He stopped, and Rose searched her brain, realising she had a pretty good idea of who it was he was referring to. "Sarah-Jane," she said.

"Exactly!" The Doctor grinned. "I knew Jenny would be safe with her. I know," he said before Rose interrupted him, "Sarah-Jane was there today on the Dalek Crucible, but she left Jenny with her son Luke, who looked after her fine while everything else was going on. Brilliant boy, definitely gonna call on him again if I need a babysitter."

"Wouldn't it have been safer to leave her somewhere that wasn't under threat from Daleks?"

The Doctor paused. "Well yes, but I wasn't really thinking straight, in case you hadn't noticed. I was a little bit distracted by a certain message from a certain someone." He elbowed her and Rose elbowed him back. Everything felt familiar and strange all at once, so surreal that Rose was half convinced she was in a dream.

Jenny began to stir, and the Doctor looked down at her. "Would you like to meet her?" he asked Rose, who nodded her head eagerly. As Jenny was waking up, Rose caught a little worry and uncertainty in the Doctor's eyes – a flash of something that clearly stated that he was not as at ease with this situation as he pretended to be.

Rose watched as Jenny opened her eyes and looked around sleepily. She caught sight of Rose and immediately buried her face in the Doctor's chest, peeking out with one eye.

"It's OK," the Doctor murmured softly, kissing the top of her head. "This is someone I've wanted you to meet for a long time. She's coming to live in the TARDIS with us. Her name is Rose."

Rose gave a little wave and said "Hi Jenny," as unthreateningly as she could. The little girl was still clinging to the Doctor fiercely, but she managed a couple of seconds of eye contact.

"Are you going to say hello?" The Doctor asked Jenny, peering down at her face and smiling. There was long pause, and then, very quietly:

"Hi."

"Well done!" The Doctor sounded so pleased, and he gave Jenny a quick hug before lowering her down to the floor. She clung to one of his skinny knees, tiny hands fisted in the pinstriped fabric. "Can you say Rose?"

Another long pause, as if for dramatic effect.

"Wose." Rose felt a twinge at the remembrance of her little brother Tony calling her that. The ability to say the letter 'r' had come to him in the end, but it had not been too long after that that Rose had left that universe, never to return. She felt tears in her eyes, and struggled to hold them there rather than letting the Doctor see how much she hurt. There was plenty of time for pain and tears. Right now was about life and new beginnings and hope. She could not bear to bring the Doctor down while he was sharing something so special with her.

Jenny had taken off around the room, clearly a little wary of Rose but still eager to explore – just like her father. She made several attempts to climb onto the settee opposite them, managing it eventually and looking mighty pleased with herself at her accomplishment. The Doctor watched her with pride and amusement, but also a touch of wonder on his face. It was as if he could not quite believe that Jenny was real, and Rose knew the feeling. She was getting it right now as she looked at the Doctor.

The object of Rose's scrutiny laughed as Jenny slid down extremely inelegantly from the settee, laughing even more at Rose's wince when the reckless toddler nearly went flat on her face. "She'll be OK," he told her, "she'll just get up and carry on again."

Jenny span around before looking at the Doctor and giving him the biggest beaming smile her little face could manage. "Daddy!" she shouted, and she ran at him on slightly unsteady legs that were still half asleep. The Doctor bent down and scooped her up, lifting her high in the air while she giggled and squealed "More! More!"

It was just so odd to see the Doctor doing this. Seeing him as a dad was going to take some getting used to.

With them next to each other, Rose was able to really see the similarities in their faces. The big, brown eyes, the bottom lip that stuck out slightly, the hair that, although a different colour, was uncontrollable and somehow gravity defying. There was no doubt at all that she really was his daughter.

They played together for a little while, Rose mostly watching rather than joining in. The shock of the big reveal was wearing off, and the tiredness was beginning to reassert itself. After she had yawned widely about 4 times, the Doctor said with a smile that maybe she should go and get some sleep.

Rose had to agree with him, and was up on her feet and halfway to the door before she stopped and turned around. "Is my room still...?"

"Oh yes, it's still there." The Doctor was holding Jenny on his lap – she was, like Rose, also showing signs of weariness now. "Just where you left it. Shouldn't have changed much either, I imagine."

He held up Jenny's hand and waved it as a goodbye, and Rose waved back before leaving the room and closing the door softly. Outside the door, she shook her head a little, and gave herself a slight pinch on her arm. Nope, not a dream then.

After walking down the corridor for a few seconds, Rose came to a turning she recognised, and just around the corner she found the door to her room. It had some Gallifreyan writing on it that had never translated, which she had always assumed meant 'Rose's Room', but she was never sure if that was really what it said. She pushed the door open and smiled.

It was her room. The feeling of coming home intensified at the sight of the pink sheets and the soft carpet and the door to the ensuite that the TARDIS had put in after Rose had gotten lost looking for a bathroom on her first night. There were subtle differences though, if you knew where to look, and Rose did.

All the colours were slightly more muted, which made the room feel a little more cool and calm that it had done – she was grateful for it after the mad day she had just been through. It was tidier than she had left it too, books neatly stacked and bed made. There were fewer clothes than she used to have – Rose remembered that she had taken a load home for her mum to wash on the day that she had been in the TARDIS for the last time.

The pictures were still there too – snapshots of her life with the Doctor, mostly awful and out of focus from being taken on her rubbish phone, but they were reminders of the life that she used to have. She examined each one closely, smiling and reliving the memories with the thought that she could now make some more. She stopped, that thought glitching in her mind. Would they be able to make more memories like this? The Doctor had a child now; he couldn't be running off into danger all the time. Maybe they would have to make different sorts of memories now.

Rose shrugged off that thought, pushing it to the back of her mind for contemplation at a later date, before pulling off her clothes and flopping into bed in just her knickers. She was under the duvet and asleep in seconds, the TARDIS humming and moving some clothes from the enormous wardrobe room to the modest sized wardrobe across from Rose's bed, so her poor human wouldn't have to go searching for any more when she woke up.


	3. Chapter 3

**OK, so I couldn't resist the Pixar reference in this. Go ahead and shoot me, I would do it all over again if I had the chance.**

The nightmares were back. Well wasn't that just fantastic.

Rose was sat bolt upright in bed, jerked from her awful dream and back into the dark familiarity of her room in a matter of seconds. The clock on her bedside table told her that she had only been asleep for about 20 minutes. She flopped back onto her pillows, dragging tangled hair off of her face in an effort to clear her head.

The nightmare had not featured the normal elements of Bad Wolf Bay and the Doctor's hand slipping through her fingers. It did not even have the more unusual replay of the things she had seen in other universes, the death and destruction and the Doctor lying on the ground, sightless eyes staring up at the stars. No, this one had been different. Still, if she was going to be terrified and wake up screaming, it was nice to have a bit of variety.

This time it had been her mum who had been slipping away from her – she had been jumping from dimension to dimension, alone and cold and forgotten by everyone. Familiar faces had turned away and not recognised her, and at last she had began to run towards the distant figure of the Doctor, only to see him shot by a Dalek and turn to ash just as she was about to reach him. That was the point at which she had woken up.

Knowing that sleep wasn't going to be returning to her for a while, no matter how tired she was, Rose sat up and swung her legs around so she was sitting on the edge of the bed. Her mind whirled around in a series of different thoughts that all seemed to be vying for her attention, before settling on one. The Doctor had a daughter.

The oddest thing was that he had seemed so calm about it. Yes, he had had Jenny for a couple of months, and she knew that he hid his emotions well, but this was a man who had been terrified of living somewhere with carpets. Rose rested her head in her hands for a few minutes. She meant no offense to the Doctor's offspring – in fact, his daughter seemed absolutely lovely, and Rose was sure that before long they would be thick as thieves - but the fact was that it would have all been so much easier if Jenny weren't there. It was never going to have been truly easy of course, what they now had to do – getting used to being with each other again, living a life, repairing a relationship that had been ripped apart so suddenly years ago. And now all of that was coming second to Jenny and her life and happiness and relationship with the Doctor.

Rose winced at her own thoughts. Now that was selfish.

Was she feeling jealous of a toddler? Of course she wasn't begrudging Jenny a good life and a loving parent, but there was still something niggling at her. Was she resenting the fact that she was no longer the most important person to the Doctor?

_"For once, you're not the most important man in my life!"_

The words came back to her immediately. They had been spoken in the heat of anger, to a different looking Doctor what felt like a lifetime ago, but that didn't make them any less true.

She sighed and rolled her head side to side on her neck, trying to work out her own feelings.

The problem was that she had been focussing on this moment for a long time. This was it. She had finally accomplished everything she had set out to do. Find the Doctor and be with him again, travel the universe. That was that. Forever.

The trouble was that, after getting there, she had not planned what to do next. She had not thought about her relationship with the Doctor and where exactly she wanted it to go (well, there had been some thoughts about where she wanted it to go, but there were a little less relationship focussed and a little more concerned with physical gratification) much less how they were actually going to accomplish it.

As always, everything had gotten a thousand times more complicated than it should have been, and Rose decided to just go and find the Doctor before she thought herself into a deep dark pit and didn't have the energy to crawl back out.

Luckily, she remembered to put of a few more items of clothing before she went to scout around for the Doctor's whereabouts. It did cheer her up though; the idea of what the Doctor's facial expression would be like if Rose had turned up in the console room in just her knickers.

She pulled on a t shirt and some pyjama bottoms from her wardrobe. She had not worn them in years, and just the feeling of them against her skin brought back a flood of emotion and nostalgia and confusion about the future that she could not really handle at that moment. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to just focus on the things she was certain of. Her name was Rose Tyler, she was 23 years old (around about – the time travel made it hard to tell exactly), she was on the TARDIS, she was with the Doctor, she had made her choice and she was happy with it. Once she knew that she was in control again, Rose ventured out into corridor barefoot, leaving her bedroom door ajar.

She did not fancy wandering around for an hour or so looking for the Doctor – and it could be way longer than that, the Doctor had once told her that the TARDIS was infinite. Whether he had been joking or not, she did not really want to find out. In the end, Rose decided to ask the TARDIS for her. It felt a bit silly talking out loud, asking the ship to tell her where the Doctor was, but after she had said it and continued walking, she came to the end of the corridor, with one last door staring her in the face. She grinned, thanked the TARDIS, and yanked on the door handle.

She was in the flipping console room.

"That was the first place I was gonna look anyway," Rose mumbled to herself. She peered around, but the Doctor was nowhere to be seen. Thinking he might be tinkering with the console, and therefore lying down on the floor out of sight, she ventured further into the room.

The Doctor sat at the door of the TARDIS, long legs dangling over the edge into the emptiness of space. Jenny sat in between his legs on the floor, her little feet just able to hang outside into the open air. She was completely silent, staring out of the doors without even moving a muscle. The Doctor had wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and pulled it around his little daughter, so only her head and her feet poked out, keeping her warm. They were both staring out at the stars, entranced by the beauty that lay in the calm stillness as the TARDIS drifted on her way.

Rose walked up behind them. The Doctor heard her footsteps and immediately shuffled over, patting the floor beside him in welcome. Rose grinned and sat down, letting her feet hang over the edge in a way that felt exciting and also a bit dangerous. However, she was certain that the Doctor wouldn't let her fall, just as she was certain that Jenny knew it too. She trusted the Doctor's hands to hold her there and keep her from simply floating out into the universe.

"She likes the stars," the Doctor said. "She likes to watch them, it's the only time she's properly quiet and calm, I think."

"Well, she takes after you, doesn't she?" Rose teased him. "Not able to stay still apart from when she's pondering some sort of deep, meaningful thing. What's more deep and meaningful than having the entire universe laid out in front of you?"

The Doctor just looked at her, his eyes seeming to become a deeper and richer brown even as she looked into them. He understood what she said, a throwaway comment that meant more than it seemed, and the enormity of the universe seemed condensed into his gaze. It was making her feel a little bit light-headed.

They watched the universe together for a long while. Time passed slowly, the darkness shifted around them and the stars burned.

Jenny fell asleep after not too long, her little blonde head lolling back against the Doctor and one of her hands curled around his finger. Once the Doctor had picked her up and closed the doors, Rose trailed after him, wanting to know where Jenny slept and definitely not wanting to be alone with her thoughts at the moment.

After some twists and turns they stopped in front of a door. Rose recognised the door across the corridor from this one as the Doctor's bedroom door. Of course, he would want to be as near to Jenny as possible in case of any emergency. Jenny's door had some Gallifreyan writing on it just as Rose's did, but it was when the Doctor swung it open that Rose was all of a sudden transfixed. They stepped inside, together, the Doctor heading for Jenny's cot while Rose just gaped.

"Oh my god, no way!"

Her eyes were as round as saucers and probably almost as big. The Doctor turned to her with Jenny still in his arms, grinning.

"Knew you'd like it. Of course, the TARDIS can change the room according to Jenny's preferences as she gets older, but I thought this was a good place to start."

Rose stared around at the walls in wonder. The main colour was bright sky blue, dotted all over in a regular pattern with white clouds. It was definitely and unmistakeably the wallpaper from Andy's room in "Toy Story".

"Do you realise how much I wanted a room like this?" Rose was spinning around in awe, grinning her head off. "I mean, I was getting too old by that time and we couldn't really afford it, but do you know how much I would have given to have this room?"

The Doctor was lying Jenny down in her cot when he replied with his back to her. "I'm sure we can get the TARDIS to do your room like it if you want." There was a smile in his voice.

Rose laughed – she enjoyed laughing at the Doctor, it was always the most enjoyable type of laughter and she was sure that he sensed it too. "I think I'm OK. I like my room as it is, and besides, Jenny gets to have the real thing. Did you get her a Buzz Lightyear too?"

The Doctor span around with an indignant expression splashed across his face, sharply putting his finger to his lips. "Shh! Do you want to ruin her next birthday?" he whispered, but Rose could see the humour in his eyes and stifled a giggle, suddenly aware that they were now alone together properly for the first time since she had found him again. They tiptoed out of the room and the Doctor closed the door. Once outside, neither of them spoke. This would have been the time for the baring of souls and the discussion of problems and all that nonsense, if either of them were inclined to start the ball rolling. Unfortunately, Rose did not know where to begin, and the Doctor, helpful as always, was looking at his shoes.


	4. Chapter 4

**This is one day late, but at least I didn't forget it completely as I sometimes tend to do. **

Rose decided to just break any tension, so she went in for a hug. She was up on her toes slightly, just like usual, and the sound and feel of his heartbeats was so soothing. He held her just right, and she was hit with the idea that this might actually be the most pleasant place to be in the universe – right here, pressed against the Doctor's chest.

"It occurs to me," he said slowly, and Rose deeply appreciated the way his words reverberated through his chest and into her own body, "that you went to bed not that long ago, just about unable to keep your eyes open." He pulled away, hands on her upper arms as he scrutinised her face. Rose suspected that by now she must look haggard beyond belief. "Nightmare?"

She nodded, knowing when she had been caught. "Yeah. I'm fine though, just a bit shaken I guess."

"Well, they'll do that to you." He spoke as if he really understood, and Rose was completely sure that he did. The war still haunted him, even aside from everything else he had been through, and he had his own fair share of nightmares, she knew.

"It was a bit worse than usual – everyone kept on drifting away and leaving me alone, and then you were there but then you turned to dust when that Dalek shot you." She stopped, taking a deep breath. His hand found hers, fingers lacing together in such a familiar way that Rose could have jumped for joy at the feeling.

"Do you want me to...? I mean, I could..." The Doctor was rubbing the back of his neck, not looking her in the eye as he spoke. "I could come and sit with you for a bit? I mean, I could just... be there, maybe me being with you would help alleviate some of the nightmares, if being alone is something that worries you." He was babbling, trying to cover up for how nervous he was about proposing this plan of action.

Rose considered. "I think that would be a very good idea, Doctor."

He used to sit with her sometimes when she fell asleep before, but that had been a long time ago, when he had been grumpy and northern and had those blue eyes that she still missed sometimes, if she was honest. Her first weeks on the TARDIS had resulted in some rather bizarre dreams, not all of which were pleasant, and just sometimes the Doctor would look in on her to make sure she was alright. He would sit in the chair on the other side of her room, or sometimes on the edge of her bed, chatting to her about aliens and telling her stories until she had drifted off to sleep. He was never there when she awoke.

After a while Rose had gotten used to the strangeness of her new life, and the nightmares had abated enough for her not to need him with her. Not that she didn't miss it, but she had never proposed continuing the ritual. At another moment Rose might have refused, maintaining that she was perfectly OK, but her nightmares had gone up a notch since she had been separated from the Doctor, and idea of him offering her company while she dropped off to sleep and her refusing said company was just unthinkable at that moment. She had found him less than 24 hours ago – there was no way she was really ready to let him out of her sight.

It was, Rose thought to herself as they head down the corridor towards her room, hand in hand, just too easy. Too easy, in a moment such as this, to slip back into the ways that were still habits to her, however long it had been. It was too easy to take for granted the fact that his hand could take hers so easily, not to count the freckles on his nose or marvel at being able to see his really great hair, which she could reach out and touch if she wanted to, after so long wishing that it were possible. She was feeling the need to remind herself every other second that this one, this particular moment, was one she should treasure, keep forever in a little box so that she could look in on it and remember how happy they were at this particular point in their lives.

When they reached her bedroom door Rose pushed it open without loosening her grip on the Doctor's hand, choosing instead to almost pull him through the door with her. It swung shut behind them, the TARDIS' doing no doubt, and Rose finally let go of the Doctor and turned around to face him.

In the bedroom with its soft, glowing light, the Doctor seemed heightened. Every aspect of him seemed sharper and more real – the colour of his hair and his eyes seemed to leap out at her, she was staring at his lips more than she should. Her mind strayed back to the moment she had first seen him in the street. What would have happened if that Dalek had not been there to shoot the Doctor? She sighed inwardly, knowing that any spontaneous kissing or other activity was now out the window, and she was back with her brilliant, cautious Doctor who was not going to cross that particular line without a proper argument with himself.

Tearing her eyes away from the Doctor – it was difficult, she had to admit – Rose pulled back the duvet and slid underneath it.

Without a word, the Doctor walked around to the other side of the bed, sitting on the edge and taking off his shoes. Rose had expected him to simply sit with her until she slept, as he had before, but his actions seemed to indicate he was going to lie in bed with her. Which was perfectly fine and dandy with Rose.

"Will Jenny be OK?" she asked. It seemed strange that the Doctor had another person on the TARDIS that needed him – Rose sensed that it was going to feel strange for a while.

"Yeah, the TARDIS will tell me when she wakes up." The Doctor unbuttoned his suit jacket and let it slip off of his shoulders. "She's better than any baby monitor – plus Jenny sleeps pretty well now."

He was lying under the duvet by now, still wearing most of his clothes – leaving no doubt in Rose's mind that they were definitely not going _there_, not tonight – and he maintained a little distance at first. Despite being quite tactile by nature, when moments occurred when they were coming close to the unspoken lines that had been drawn, he was careful and ever so slightly ill at ease. It was the only time where Rose was not entirely comfortable just to be with him, because she knew that both of their brains were going a mile a minute, analysing minute changes in expressions and shifts in movements. To be honest, he was over-thinking it. She didn't blame him.

She snuggled down so that she was facing the Doctor, head sinking into the pillows and eyes scrutinising his face as he did the same to her. He shifted a little, their noses almost brushing.

"Better?" he asked.

Rose scrunched up her nose. "Won't know that 'til I'm asleep, will I?"

"True." The Doctor pulled on his ear, a bit unsure of what to do next. "Well, I guess you'd better get on with it then."

Rose closed her eyes just as another thought struck her. "You don't sleep much, do you?"

"Nope."

"Then are you going to be watching me sleep all night? 'Cause I'm not gonna lie, that's kind of creepy. Watching for a minute after you've just woken up is acceptable, all night is bordering on weird."

The Doctor laughed at that, an almost giggle that made Rose's chest clench a bit. What she wouldn't give to be able to make him do that every other second. She opened one eye and peered at him. "You aren't going to be staring at me, are you?"

"'Course not. I can get a bit of sleep myself maybe, then catch up on some reading or something. Odd I may be, but creepy I most definitely am not."

This made Rose smile, and she closed her eye again. She was so ridiculously tired, already mostly asleep, but she remembered something else and struggled to cling onto consciousness long enough to carry out her next action. "Night Doctor," she said quietly, leaning over somewhat clumsily and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Once she was over on his side of the bed, he gave her a sort of hug, an arm around her waist, and from that moment it seemed the most natural thing in the world to snuggle in beside him. He rolled over a little until he was on his back, and Rose laid her head on his shirt covered chest. His arms wrapped around her almost automatically. Rose smiled – she was not letting go of him, not tonight.

By this point she was practically asleep, and her last thought before she completely lost consciousness was that happy idea that the Doctor did not seem opposed to this sleeping arrangement. In fact, if she could read her Doctor correctly, he seemed rather pleased with the outcome.


	5. Chapter 5

**Next chapter - Rose and Jenny get to do a bit of bonding here. I don't think Rose would automatically slip into the role of mother or anything, it's more complicated than that. Anyway, have a bit more fluff before I actually start to write some plot, heaven forbid. **

Rose was aware that there was a heavy weight on the bed next to her, and for the life of her she could not work out what it could be. Then the weight shifted and breathed, and she realised there was only one alive thing on this ship that could possibly be with her in her bed right now. The alive thing that was, right at this second, breathing softly and smelling very nice and making her feel like she wanted to stay here forever with it pressed against her side. It, of course, being the Doctor.

She opened her eyes and realised that she could not see a thing. She opened and closed them a few more times before the blurry vision began to clear and she could see what was going on. The Doctor was sitting on the bed next to her, long pinstriped legs stretched out in front of him. He was fiddling with something electrical, twisting wires and pushing buttons with his skinny fingers. On looking up a bit higher, Rose became aware that he was wearing his glasses, and she all of a sudden felt a rush of fondness for him. He had not worn them since she had been back in this universe, and she had missed the way it made her feel as he slowly turned his head to look at her, peering at her over the top of the glasses as though he were examining a specimen.

"Hello," Rose said a little sheepishly – to be fair, she had been gawking at him.

"Hello," he replied with an enormous grin, "sleep well?"

Rose considered, cocking her head on one side and feeling her neck click. "Had a couple of bad dreams, but you were there next to me when I woke up so I just sort of went back to sleep."

"I have that effect," the Doctor said glumly. "Soporific, that's what everyone says. You've fallen asleep while I've been talking to you a dozen times or more."

"Well it's your voice, you know, it's got that kind of droning quality to it."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah," Rose continued, "sort of like that hum that the air conditioning makes. Sends you off quick as a wink." She was trying to keep down a smile, which became increasingly difficult when the Doctor peered down at her again with a frown and one eyebrow raised.

"Rose Tyler, I do believe you are teasing me." That was all it took for Rose to dissolve into hysterical laughter.

She was still giggling at the hurt expression on his face when he suddenly looked up at the ceiling and frowned. "That's the TARDIS. Jenny's woken up." He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, stretching up his arms and giving Rose a view of his bum that she was quite happy about, though of course she hadn't been looking or anything.

"I was thinking of going out later – there's this planet on the edge of a solar system a couple of galaxies away where the light from the sun reacts with the elements in the air so all the plants and trees grow blue. It's amazing, an entire planet where everything's just blue, blue grass, blue flowers, blue sky! Fancy a look?"

He had twisted round and was looking at her, his eyes betraying the fact that he seemed to feel a bit uncertain about asking her this. It would be their first trip together since she got back, and he was very well aware that his life on the TARDIS now was not quite what Rose had expected. Nevertheless, she nodded enthusiastically at him and he smiled once more. "See you in a bit, then." He collected his shoes and jacket and bounced out of the door.

Rose waited until he had gone before flopping onto her back, burying herself in the duvet until she was practically in a cocoon. Things were progressing, she was sure of it. She was certain that they might have progressed more, had the Doctor not had other things pressing on his mind i.e. Donna and Jenny.

She managed to get out of bed and into the shower, where the hot water succeeded in waking her up enough to get dressed and try and do something with her hair. Her first stop on leaving her bedroom was the kitchen, where she quickly made herself a cup of tea. The Doctor's usual mug was missing, so Rose presumed he already had one and didn't bother to make him a cup. She decided to go to the console room, as it was the starting point for any search throughout the TARDIS. Rose walked through the corridors still without shoes on, sipping on her tea and thinking about how normal this all felt; when in reality it had been years since she had called this ship 'home'. She did now, of course. It was the only home she had.

Rose could hear Jenny's wonderful little laugh from down the corridor, muddled together with the Doctor's giggles. Rose had never heard a man properly giggle before she had met the Doctor – his particular giggle was now the standard to which all other laughter was judged, in Rose's opinion. She reached the doorway and stopped, deciding to take in the scene before venturing forth into the console room.

Jenny was sitting on the jump seat, wearing a little pair of dungarees and a stripy t-shirt. Her feet were bare, and she was playing with a small blanket, putting it over her head and waiting for a second before pulling it off and shouting "Boo!" She had not quite mastered the act of pulling the blanket smoothly yet, but every time she did it the Doctor pretended to be scared of her and she laughed.

Rose stood in the doorway with her cup of tea, watching them play together. Her Doctor and Jenny's father felt like two separate people in her mind, and Rose knew she was going to have to merge them together in her head before she felt at peace with her new life on the TARDIS. The only way to do that was to spend some time with both of them, and Jenny.

"Having fun?" she asked, walking into the room and interrupting their game slightly.

"Of course not," the Doctor said with a frown, "this child is extremely frightening." He pointed a finger at Jenny, who giggled and pushed three fingers into her mouth, sucking on them with glee. The Doctor gently removed her hand before she gnawed it off at the wrist, picking her up and holding her in his arms.

"Anyway, I actually need to do a bit of maintenance before we go off on our trip today – do you think you could look after Jenny for an hour or so?" The little girl was at that very moment pulling on the Doctor's hair and laughing at the strange expressions his face was contorting into with every tug. "If you could just take her and play with her for a bit, everything takes longer to do when you've got a toddler trying to help you."

Rose's eyes flickered between Jenny and the Doctor's pleading expression. She nodded, smiling. "Yeah, that's fine. We'll have fun."

The Doctor gave her a great big smile and bounced Jenny in his arms. "'Course you will. She'll love you, everyone does."

Rose rolled her eyes at this. "I can think of quite a few aliens and bad guys who would beg to differ on that point, but whatever."

She watched the Doctor pop Jenny onto the floor and kiss her head before heading off down the corridor to "find some bits and bobs" that he apparently needed for whatever he was planning to do.

Rose was actually a bit nervous, though she had managed to hide it quite well in her interactions with the Doctor just before he had left. Babysitting was one thing, but this child was different. She was Gallifreyan, the result of a genetic procedure gone wrong, and also the Doctor's.

Rose suddenly felt all of her knowledge about toddlers and caring for them fly out of her head.

"Shall we go and find you some toys to play with?" Rose asked Jenny. Jenny looked up from where she had been hitting one of her previously discarded shoes against grating that made up the console room floor. The word "toy" seemed to have caught her attention. She reached up to Rose, little arms straining in the universal language of toddlers that means "lift me up immediately, I wish to be carried now".

Rose bent down and picked Jenny up, settling her on her hip just as she had done with her little brother Tony.

They walked down the corridor in the direction of Jenny's bedroom (Rose hoped, anyway) and Jenny was playing with Rose's hair, pulling at the blonde locks with great curiosity. "Yeah, it's blonde like yours," Rose said to her, "not really, of course. It's dyed, but you won't really know what that means yet. Your daddy seems to trust me to look after you while he's fixing the TARDIS, so we'd better make sure that we get to know each other."

Jenny was still not quite certain of Rose, but she seemed content to listen to the sound of Rose's voice as she tangled her fingers in the blonde hair in front of her. They reached jenny's bedroom and Rose wandered inside, popping Jenny down on the floor before rummaging in the toybox against one wall. Jenny toddled over to join her and began pulling things out of the box.

"Steady on," said Rose with a smile, "there is no way you're going to be able to play with all of those at once, whether you take after the Doctor or not."

They ended up selecting a few toys, and Rose took them, Jenny walking right in front of her clutching a small plastic fire engine, to the library. It seemed as good a place as any, plus it was one of the rooms that Rose spent most of her time in, so she felt quite comfortable there.

Jenny drove the fire engine around on the carpet, along with the other various cars, spaceships and farm animals that Rose had brought with her. Rose noticed that, once she had settled Jenny down on the floor, the carpet had shifted slightly, the colours evolving and eventually taking the shape of a racing track. This made Jenny very happy – the TARDIS apparently knew what games she liked to play - and soon it was animal versus vehicle with many collisions and constant burbling talk, none of which Rose could really make out. Jenny seemed quite content to play on her own for a while, but soon she was tugging on Rose's jeans and pointing at the floor. "Cow!" Rose sat cross legged on the floor and picked up the plastic cow. It was green and had more udders than Rose was used to. Clearly this was not your typical Earth cow. Rose drove the cow around the racing track, laughing as Jenny rolled the fire engine across her legs and up and down her arms. She let the little girl sit on the settee behind her and roll the fire engine's wheels across her head. Her long hair got a bit tangled at one point but it was an altogether quite hilarious experience.

Eventually Jenny tired of playing with the toys, and decided on a new game that Rose assumed she had played with the Doctor. It consisted of Jenny running away and shouting until Rose chased her, then squealing as she was chased round and round the room. When Rose caught her she picked her up and swung her around in the air before plonking her on the sofa and slumping down beside her, laughing at Jenny's obvious enjoyment. "'Gain, 'gain!" she shouted continuously, until Rose began chasing her all over again.

She also now had a better grasp of Rose's name, and "'gain," was replaced with "Wose, Wose, Wose!" Rose was quite tired out after playing this game for a while, but Jenny did not seem to feel any inclination to stop.

When the Doctor appeared in the doorway Jenny was tugging on the leg of Rose's jeans, indignantly saying "Wose, more!" and frowning so deeply that he eyebrows almost completely covered her eyes. It was quite an impressive facial expression, Rose had to admit. She was just about to get up and play "just one more" round of the game – she had said that six times already, Jenny was quite persuasive for a toddler – when the Doctor stepped inside the room.

"Well now Jenny, have you been terrorising my Rose to within an inch of her life?"


	6. Chapter 6

**This took a bit longer than normal but my wifi was being bloody awful last night. Hope you enjoy.**

Rose rather enjoyed the way he had said "my Rose" when he spoke about her, but she tried not to let it distract her at that moment. She was much more in danger of being distracted by that little smile that was making itself known upon his face, pulling at his lips and making them look more delightful than ever. Rose shook her head slightly. Ever since she had got back to the TARDIS the urge to just kiss him had become a lot stronger than it had been before, though a few days ago Rose would have said that that could not have been possible.

At the sound of the Doctor's voice Jenny span around towards him, grinning massively. It was plain to anyone's eyes that they loved each other dearly.

She scrambled across the settee, dropping the floor with a loud thump before tottering over to her dad. "Daddy," she said gleefully. She reached up determinedly and he bent down a bit, allowing her to grasp his hand and pull him over to the sofa. She let him go and pushed at his legs until he sat down. She then clambered up after him, turning around and sitting herself down between the Doctor and Rose. She seemed to be remarkably pleased with herself.

"Blimey, she knows what she wants, doesn't she?"

"Yep." Rose could sense the pride in his voice. "She likes to make sure that I'm there and safe and ready to play with her at any point. Sometimes I feel like she thinks she has to look after me."

Rose giggled. "Maybe she does." Jenny was in the process of pulling off the Doctor's glasses, which he had probably put on while he was tinkering with the TARDIS. She folded them up with a bit of difficulty and gave them back to him. She made frustrated noises and pushed his hands impatiently with her tiny fingers until her put the glasses in his inside jacket pocket. "Wow, yep, she is definitely the one in charge."

She was still laughing when Jenny turned around towards her, smiling so sweetly and innocently that it set Rose off again. The Doctor was grinning by now, ruffling his hair before picking up Jenny and holding her in front of him, their faces only about six inches apart. He was, if his face was anything to go by, attempting to pretend that he was talking to her extremely seriously, though his mouth kept twitching.

"Now Jenny, stop showing me up in front of Rose. You can get rid of that expression as well, we both know that you are a little ball of pure evil, no need to act so innocent in front of her. She's got you pegged." Jenny smiled and leaned forward to bite the Doctor's nose with the few teeth that she had. The Doctor shouted in mock-terror, before pulling her away and standing her on his knees, holding her hands so she could keep balance. "If you bite it off then I am sending you the bill for a new one." He placed Jenny gently on the floor, where she quickly crawled over to the small pile of toys Rose had brought in and began to sift through them.

Rose was torn. Part of her found their relationship so completely endearing that she felt herself going all squidgy inside like a marshmallow when she saw how they interacted together. It was so wonderful to see it, especially since the Doctor had been so alone for so long. He deserved this. Unfortunately, there was another part of her that was feeling almost... left out by it. Not that the Doctor was excluding her, but with a relationship as solid as father and daughter right there in front of her, Rose was no longer sure how she fitted in. Before, with the Doctor, their relationship may not have progressed in the way she was used to, but they were both in the same boat and equal in the situation. Rose was now faced with the most domestic situation she could imagine – the Doctor having to raise his child. How did their relationship fit in with the Doctor's family? The word family seemed strange, but Rose knew that it was correct. The Doctor had a family. Rose just had to hope that she could be a part of it.

The Doctor turned to her and Rose wiped those thoughts from her mind. Another time. She was becoming aware that she was pushing a lot of thoughts and worries aside and that at some point she would have to deal with them all. But that could wait till later. Right now was her time with the Doctor.

"You alright? Settling back in OK?"

"To be honest, Doctor," Rose replied, "it feels like I never left."

He grinned at that. "Well I'm glad. I was worried that you might feel a bit weird being back here. You know, being back somewhere you used to be makes you realise how much you've changed."

The truth of that statement was inescapable, but that wasn't actually something that had been bothering Rose in the slightest. "True. But actually, I've been aiming to get back here the entire time I was in that other universe. It feels just the same as ever and I'm grateful. I was worried you might have redecorated."

He looked shocked. "What, me? Never. If I went through TARDIS styles at that rate I'd have run out by now. Besides, Jenny likes sitting on the columns in the console room when I'm in there."

"Isn't that a bit dangerous?"

The Doctor paused. "I suppose a little bit, but I always hold onto her. I'm not going to drop her, she's not a basketball, she's a baby."

Rose chuckled. "OK, OK, you are the most responsible person I've ever met."

"Well now you just make me sound boring!"

Now Rose was really laughing, more than she had in ages. She had noticed that the closer she had been to finding the Doctor again, the more prone she had been to laughter, despite normally being totally focussed on the plan or journey at hand. Any little thing would make her chuckle, as though her body could sense her proximity to the person who was really going to make her happy. Now that she had found him again her laughing circuits seemed to have gone into overdrive.

Rose managed to stop giggling after what felt like an eternity – even throughout her laughing fit it had been hard to miss the fact that the Doctor's was looking at her with that expression on his face again. That expression that seemed to convey need and want and love and insecurity and hesitancy and sadness all at once. She struggled to ignore it, concentrating on slowing her breathing back to its normal level. Now sitting comfortably together in silence – she was glad they could still do that after all this time – Rose decided to voice something that she had been thinking about while she had been looking after Jenny."She looks so human. She acts so human. When will she start showing that she's, well... not?"

The Doctor tilted his head to one side, like a cat, considering. He had clearly thought about it a bit beforehand though, given the detail in the answer he gave her.

"She'll age pretty much like a human child, apart from the biological differences and the telepathy. She'll learn faster than a human child would and understand more, but it won't be a vast difference until she's about 12, that's when her brain will really start to develop a lot faster. She'll also probably physically age a bit slower, since we age differently to humans anyway. Time Lords spent years and years studying at the Academy in order to become Time Lords – I mean, we really are talking centuries. We were still thought of as kids until we were at least 150, there was a lot to learn." He sighed. "I don't want to bring up Jenny like that. I mean, I will teach her and help her learn what she needs to know to become a Time Lord, but it was all so structured and stifling and, well... I left. I suppose that says something about it."

"I always thought baby Time Lords would be, I don't know... more serious?" They both looked at Jenny, who was sitting on the carpet chatting nonsense with a stuffed toy gorilla, occasionally attempting to chew off one of its ears. The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Rose.

"In what way?"

"Well the way you described them, they always sounded so grand and severe and a bit scary to be honest. I just never imagined them being cute little babies who liked to play with toys."

"Every creature in the universe has the capacity for a childhood, Rose. I mean, in some the time spent as a child is a lot longer, others are forced to grow up quicker than they probably should, but in every species there is that need for those years of fun and of imagination. You know, where anything is possible and love is unconditional, that time of innocence when the child has a chance to develop. My people were a bit scary – it was a bit like what I imagine growing up as royalty would feel like. There were expectations of you the moment you were born. I would hope that Jenny will study to become a true Time Lord – of course it's her choice – but I'm not taking fun and happiness away from her in order for her to do it." He sounded quite sad. Rose had never asked him what his childhood was like – from the sound of it he had not agreed with the ways of his people any more as a little boy than he had throughout the rest of his life. She caught onto one part of the information she had received and clutched at it, anxious to lead the Doctor away from dwelling on his past.

"So she'll be able to regenerate?"

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. "Possibly. She should be able to, but I can't say for sure. She was created in a machine that wasn't built for Time Lords. Our physiology is very different than anything that machine will have seen before. As far as I can tell Jenny is Gallifreyan – she's got 2 hearts just like me, that's how Donna convinced me that she was really my daughter – but we'll have to wait and see, won't we?"

"Of course we will." Rose smiled and placed her hand on his. The Doctor's head snapped up towards her, the contact apparently taking him by surprise. He was jerked from the thoughts of his race, now deceased, back into the present, with Rose in the console room. A slow smile lit his face as though it were glowing from the inside out.

"Well, if we're going on an adventure today, then we'd better get going!" He jumped up from the settee still clutching Rose's hand. She was pulled up with him in a sudden motion that caused her still half asleep legs to protest.

He let go of Rose and scooped up Jenny in his arms. She started to protest a little at being pulled away from the gorilla toy she so obviously wanted to chew, but the Doctor tickled her tummy through her dungarees and she giggled with delight. He set off to the console room at high speed, Rose right there beside him. She had been looking forward to this for a long time – travelling with the Doctor again, seeing history and the future and being able to go anywhere. Better with two. Or three now, she supposed.

Within minutes Rose had shoved her shoes on, and the Doctor had gotten Jenny ready to go out -"They do little baby converse, Rose! She had to have some; she wears them all the time. We match!" – before grabbing his own coat and pulling it on. Rose was feeling that familiar buzz. It was when she felt most alive, the anticipation of a new adventure.

The Doctor also seemed to be overflowing with energy as he sprinted to the TARDIS doors, Jenny in his arms.

"Come on, Rose!"

She ran to stand at the door with him, feeling lighter than she had in a long time. The Doctor opened the door and stepped out, Rose close behind.

It really was beautiful. The TARDIS had landed them in a meadow filled with blue flowers. There must have been thousands of different shades of blue, and the wind rippling through them made Rose think of the open ocean. In the distance there was a forest of blue trees reaching up towards a blue sky. She could feel the heat of the sun, but being in the midst of this blue world made her feel cool and calm despite the weather.

The Doctor lifted Jenny into the air and placed her so she was sitting on his shoulders. He held onto her feet in their tiny converse boots and she placed her hands on his head, holding onto fistfuls of his hair to keep herself steady. Considering how vain he could be about his hair, he really didn't seem to mind her messing with it.

"Right then – adventure." He looked at Rose, who was positively glowing with happiness. He removed one hand from where it held Jenny and used it to take Rose's hand. Their fingers laced, and Rose was certain that she must be nearing absolute, perfect contentment. "We won't be doing anything too dangerous though – checked before we left the TARDIS. This planet has no life forms apart from the vegetation for 100 miles. Had to make sure it was safe for you know who." He bounced Jenny on his shoulders and she giggled, waving her arms in the air for a moment before grabbing hold of the Doctor's head once more. "This way, I think."

He set off, obviously expecting Rose to follow, but she was still standing just outside the TARDIS doors. Something about what he had said was niggling at her again. They had always loved the danger, the sense that anything could happen. Of course she knew that the Doctor wanted to keep his daughter safe – she did not expect him to put Jenny in any sort of situation where she might be hurt. There was just a tiny sense of loss inside her, as though that little element of danger was something that she craved, and after being tempted by it for so long it had suddenly disappeared without a trace. No matter how easy or quiet or calm a journey she had requested, Rose and the Doctor had always managed to find some danger or threat. Was it that she now knew the Doctor had had the capacity to find a danger free planet for them to visit, but he had chosen not to? Or was it the idea that, if it turned out there was some danger here and he had put them in the middle of it, the Doctor might have to decide not to adventure as much until Jenny was old enough?

Rose sighed and rubbed her eyes with her hands. She was getting sick and tired of pushing and prodding her own feelings around and getting nowhere. It would be so much easier to pinpoint her unease if the object of her irritation was something she could hate. The fact was that it wasn't. She loved the Doctor, and she could tell that she was on her way towards loving Jenny as well. The thing that was bothering her was not malicious, nor was it causing her any pain or problems, at least not directly. It was just a feeling, and not a pleasant one.

She started to walk through the meadow in an effort to catch up with the Doctor, getting the distinct feeling that she was walking half a step out of time with his long, confident strides.


	7. Chapter 7

**TW: suicide. Only a very vague mention, but it needs a warning just in case. **

They had a very pleasant day in the blue woods – Rose managed to forget about any worries or unsettling thoughts on her part and simply enjoyed herself. It seemed to be becoming a habit, she noted, living in the moment and not giving a thought to what might happen, or rather, what she wanted to happen in the future. Still, the future would arrive – it seemed to have a tendency to do that. She would just have to deal with it when it got here. At least, for now.

They wandered in the shade of the cool, blue trees for a long while, the Doctor spouting endless trivia about the planet and its history and inhabitants while Rose skipped between the trees like a pixie, an amusing development which the Doctor pointed out to her after about half an hour. She blushed pale pink and smiled, tongue showing through her teeth in a smile that she had never really been aware of until she noticed the effect it seemed to have on the Doctor. She took in his slightly bemused grin and told him quite matter-of-factly that walking among blue trees on an alien planet could cause some quite erratic behaviour in humans.

"You know, excitement, giddiness, tendency to whistle and skip and smile – we're a simple folk."

The Doctor just raised his eyebrow and pursed his lips in a way that seemed to say "I am well aware of that fact" before pointing out another different species of blue flower.

Jenny seemed to be enjoying simply looking around at the new world the Doctor had given her, but before Rose knew it – she teased the Doctor that it was his droning voice that had caused it, at which point he bumped her hip gently with his – Jenny was fast asleep, head resting gently on top of the Doctor's. Rose smiled at the sleeping toddler. The Doctor tried to lift Jenny from his shoulders before she went limp and fell down, but he was having a bit of trouble untangling her hands from his hair. Rose reached over and disengaged Jenny's fist from a clump of the Doctor's dark brown hair, allowing him to bring her down from his shoulders and hold her in his arms. She really was fast asleep, her breathing deep and slow. The Doctor kissed the top of her head before looking up and catching sight of Rose staring at him almost wistfully. She should have known he would be able to tel what she was thinking – he could read her like a book most of the time and he knew it.

"Don't worry Rose Tyler, I haven't forgotten about you." He leaned forward slowly, pulling her into him with one arm until her entire body was pressed up against his, and pressed a tender kiss to the top of her head. Rose wrapped her arms around his waist and held herself there, for fear of being let go too soon if she didn't cling on. It was difficult while he was holding a sleeping infant, but it was not too hard for Rose to recall the old feeling that she had always gotten when he held her close to him. Comfort and security and contentment – it was all mixed up with his smell and the texture of his suit and the way his arms seemed to be just the perfect length fit around her in the optimum way. He had rested his chin on the top of her head, just like he always did when they were hugging not due to adrenaline or euphoria or happiness, but just simply because close proximity to each other was something that neither of them wanted to be without.

"I'll take her back to the TARDIS and settle her down. We can stay out here and just talk if you want?" The Doctor was offering to talk – now that was something that Rose would have thought even less likely than succeeding at inter-dimensional travel. She watched him walk towards the TARDIS, Jenny's head resting on his shoulder. Now would be the time to tell him everything she needed him to know. That is, if she could even get the words out.

They sat outside under some of the blue trees. The afternoon had faded long ago, and the evening was beginning its slow descent into night. Rose still managed to be surprised that even the sunset was blue on this fascinating planet.

"Are you OK?" Rose was slightly confused. The Doctor often asked her if she was alright, but that was normally after some terrifying or traumatic event. He seemed to be scrutinising her now, and she desperately fought the blush she could feel rising in her cheeks.

"I'm fine, Doctor."

"You sure? You seem a little... distant?"

"Just thinking."

The Doctor remained silent after that, twisting his long fingers together. Rose had not felt so hesitant in his company for a long time. She wanted to talk to him about being back here with him and what it meant, but she did now know if he would want to. Which was why she was so surprised when he brought the subject up himself.

"How was it? In the other universe, I mean. You must've sort of guessed how it was for me here. I mean, you met the other companions I had. What was it like?"

Rose breathed in and out very slowly. She did not really want to tell him – she sensed that he would feel guilt for the pain and despair she had been through, despite the fact that what had happened to her was not his fault. Eventually, after a couple of minutes of his huge brown eyes searching her face for an answer, she decided he needed to know.

"It was OK. Well, it wasn't really, but apart from the fact that I was trapped there everything was sort of nice. I mean, mum and dad were back together, mum had Tony. Torchwood offered me a job, I helped on missions and kept myself busy. I had Mickey and Jake and Mum. I thought I saw Jack once." The Doctor raised his eyebrows in surprise and delight. "Yeah, but he was gone before I could be sure. The only thing was that I couldn't enjoy any of it. I thought I was never going to get back to you. People kept telling me that I should try to move on, but I couldn't until I tried everything possible to get back over to this universe. I couldn't accept that you were lost forever, I just couldn't. I mean, I missed..."

"What did you miss?" the Doctor prompted, a sly smile hovering at the corners of his mouth, just as it had that first day in the TARDIS again when she had told him she had been trying to come back. He had given her that same delightful grin when she had admitted to him that she had been trying to come back.

Rose tried to formulate an appropriate reply. There was no way to really explain to him how bad it had been. "I really..." she stuttered, gulping and trying to hold back tears, smiling because she knew how silly it was to be crying when he was right there in front of her, "I, I missed you so much and you weren't there to give me hugs all the time and everything, and I'm here now and I just... I just really missed being able to see your stupid, ridiculous face every day."

He laughed, pulling her in for a hug, all traces of smug amusement gone. "So you came all that way just for a look at my ridiculous face, did you?"

Rose laughed, though her weak smile was still very definitely submerged in tears. "Well, I thought that you might be missing my ridiculous face as well." She felt his nod from where his head rested just next to hers.

She buried her face in his shoulder and fell silent, just rejoicing in the fact that she could cry about missing the Doctor, and have him actually there to comfort her, instead of that nagging feeling of emptiness that occurred when she was being comforted by someone else.

Rose locked her arms tightly around his neck. He was wondrously solid and so real.

"Just so you know," the Doctor said quietly, still holding her tightly, "I missed you too. I missed your face and everything about you so much. So, so much."

He released her from the hug and looked her in the eye. "I was a complete and utter mess of a Time Lord without you." His eyes were so huge. She had always thought they were huge, now they were focussed on her and it was like being spoken to by a little fluffy puppy with freckles. That is, if that puppy had had the saddest and deepest eyes Rose had ever seen.

"Really?"

"Rose, Donna had to drag me out of a bad situation with a load of Racnoss before I drowned myself."

Rose was stunned. "What?"

The Doctor dropped his gaze, rubbing his right eye. "I was stopping them from destroying the world – the usual, you know me – and I basically washed them down the plughole using the Thames. Long story, but I was there underneath the Thames with them and... well I was angry and merciless and awful. And I was so full of hatred that I didn't notice that it was getting dangerous. Donna, she... she got me out, saved me, told me that I needed someone to stop me." He sighed, covering his face with his hands and staying silent for a few seconds. When his face reappeared he seemed to have regained control of himself.

Even so, Rose hesitated a moment before smacking him on the arm with a handy tree branch. He rubbed the place where she had whacked him, eyes full of confusion and reproach. "Oi!" He poked her accusatorily. "What was that for?"

"That was for acting like an idiot and nearly getting yourself killed!" Rose was angrier than she had thought possible given the fact that she had only just found him again. She had wanted to have a few days of peace and blissful happiness before the important stuff had to be trawled through, but this couldn't be swept aside. She was absolutely simmering with fury at his carelessness and blatant disregard for his own life. "You risk your life every day to save people, I get that, but you nearly killed yourself because of me! Because you didn't notice that the water you were flooding in there was going to _kill you_! There is always someone else to save and somewhere else to go, how could you forget all that?"

The Doctor's face had fallen; his eyes were blank and cold. "I was distraught, Rose. I wasn't thinking straight."

His empty expression shocked her almost more than his confession had, and she desperately hoped that he had not had much occasion to look like this while she had been gone. "It's OK, Doctor." She grasped his hand tightly. "It really is. I'm sorry. It was a bloody stupid thing to do, but you're OK. Just please, do one thing for me?"

His face was back to normal now, the sparkle had returned to his eyes.

"Try to pay attention when your life is in danger?"

He laughed at that. "I promise you, Rose, I will definitely try to be aware of it."

"Well that's all I ask, then." She smirked at him, relieved that there was still room in all this tension and sadness for a bit of laughter. Not knowing what else to do, she leaned sideways against him, feeling overjoyed when she felt his arm creep around her shoulders, holding her close to him just as she had remembered during those lonely nights in the other universe. The real thing, of course, made her fantasies pale in comparison. How did he always smell so good?

She felt the Doctor breathe deeply next to her, and was almost completely sure that he was smelling her as well. She didn't mind. He smelled nice, she smelled nice - maybe they could smell nice together.

Thinking that perhaps she was putting too much thought into it, Rose closed her eyes. She could easily fall asleep here just as Jenny had done. It was cool and calming and the soft breeze ruffled her hair a little as it rolled through the endless fields of flowers. She felt the Doctor's hand sweep some of her hair off of her forehead, and hoped distractedly that he might kiss her. He did not, but he laced her fingers with his own and held them together in his lap.

It wasn't kissing, but it was them, and Rose liked it very much. Almost as if she had flicked a switch on her brain, Rose fell deep into her dreams. The Doctor's warm body breathed in and out slowly beside her, lulling her to sleep like a lullaby.


	8. Chapter 8

**OK so this one is quite long. It got away from me a bit. A tiny bit of plot may happen in the next chapter. I mean, you may have guessed that this story isn't exactly brimming with exciting plot twists and turns, but there might be a tiny bit. Then again, there's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going.**

The Doctor was wandering the corridors of the TARDIS again. In the couple of weeks since Rose had been back he had been dying to go to her room again to make sure she was alright. Not that he wanted her not to be; in fact she seemed to be coping admirably with any nightmares that were plaguing her. Unfortunately, Rose's nightmares fading slightly gave the Doctor no excuse to go and see her in her bedroom. And oh how he wanted to.

He dragged a hand across his face slowly, rubbing his eyes and trying to clear his head. He had promised himself that he would not dance around the edge with Rose this time. It was rare that anyone got a second chance as they had done, and he had to make the most of it. He was finding out quickly, however, that old habits really did die hard.

No matter how much he might want to grab Rose and kiss her every time he saw her, there was still a voice inside him listing all the reasons why it was not a good idea to pursue something deeper with her. He was desperate. These past weeks had been some of the best he had ever experienced – between Jenny and Rose he was so happy and so busy that he had not really had much time to think about things and where they were heading. Since that one day on the blue planet when they had talked, their lives had sped up considerably. Cramming in adventures wherever possible led to hectic days and nights of deep sleep with no possibility of talking or anything else that the Doctor might want to do with Rose Tyler in her bedroom at night. Or in the day for that matter, he wasn't really fussy about the time.

The problem was that it had been so long for him since he had done this sort of things – he had decided a long time ago that falling into the human way of love and relationships was not a wise idea, given the fact that he was a Time Lord and would therefore live a lot longer than any human whom he ever got close to.

Besides, he had had to reawaken a part of him he had thought long since dead fairly recently, and he was just not sure he was up to trying to work out his relationship with Rose just yet.

Feeling the TARDIS' warning inside his head, he began to walk swiftly down the corridor in the opposite direction. Jenny was awake, and he was starting out a new day as a father.

He was still not quite used to being a father again. He supposed the practicality of the job made it a bit easier to get used to. He could sit and mope around and try to get his head around it for ages but in the end, no matter what turmoil he was feeling, he still had to care for Jenny, feed her and change her nappies and play with her. And he loved her. Oh, he loved her more than he had ever thought possible.

He pushed open Jenny's door and stepped inside. She was standing up in her cot, waiting for him just as she always did when she awoke. The smile that spread across her face when she saw him made his hearts beat extra loudly inside his chest. His little girl, this child who had been the product of a machine, loved him unconditionally, more than anything else in the universe. She was a part of him, and in her he could see the innocence and happiness and curiosity that he felt inside himself. But in Jenny these qualities were not tempered with his guilt and anger and the deep grief he felt for his people.

The Doctor lifted his daughter out of her cot – should he get the TARDIS to swap her cot for a bed? She was getting quite big now – and rubbed his head on her tummy in the way that he knew she loved. His hair tickled her and she giggled and squeaked with joy. He took her over to the changing table and made quick work of her nappy, whistling all the while.

He supposed, as he dressed Jenny in her outfit for that day, which happened to be a dark blue dress with little stars and rockets embroidered on it, that being a father again had changed him. He had not changed really, deep down, but being put in this domestic situation had made him act differently, even feel differently as well. He wondered if Rose had noticed.

More than that, he wondered if she minded.

By now he had noticed there was something not quite right. Being a father to a toddler was very tiring, but being a Time Lord meant that he had a lot more time and energy on his hands than most. He had noticed the way Rose looked when she thought he could not see, the way that she hovered in the doorway before entering a room, almost as though she wasn't quite sure how to approach him. Things had changed, he knew, but he had not stopped to consider the idea that all this change might be a problem.

What if she wanted to leave?

The Doctor dismissed that thought. She would not leave – at least, he would definitely be able to tell if she wanted to leave the TARDIS. He had become a practiced scholar in the art of reading Rose Tyler's mood, and he knew that right now she was uncertain and trying to adjust. If she had been really sad or in pain, he would have intercepted by now – actually talked to her about it. As it was, he had decided the best course of action for now was just to leave her alone. Carry on as normal and let her adjust and work out how she felt and what she wanted.

He knew that Rose wouldn't be awake for a couple of hours yet, so the Doctor took Jenny into her playroom – it was right next to her bedroom and the contents were different every day. Jenny was going to grow up spoilt, he just knew it. It was all the TARDIS' fault. He played with his daughter just as he would any other day, but today his heart was not really in it. His mind was fully on Rose. She had been the most important person in his life for such a long time, that even with Jenny there, he was in danger of being fully focussed on his pink and yellow human instead of anything else.

The Doctor had just about exhausted his creative capacity for the day when he had a brainwave. "Jenny," he said amicably, "why don't we go and wake up Rose?"

It was a potentially dangerous move, he knew. Rose Tyler liked her sleep. The Doctor having so much energy so early in the morning (the relative morning, given there was not actual night time on the TARDIS) had caused Rose much grief during her time on the TARDIS. And then there was that time when he had burst in to wake her up and she was already up. And naked.

She had had her back to him, but it was enough. The Doctor had stuttered and gawped and, when he had gotten the use of his legs back, stumbled backwards out of the door and fled. Nowadays he always asked the TARDIS if Rose was still asleep before bursting in there. Maybe that was a bit more cautious than he normally would be, but he wanted to avoid another awkward moment like that. At least, he thought he did. Nowadays he was entertaining the idea that, actually, walking in on Rose Tyler naked could lead somewhere quite pleasant. Nevertheless, he checked with the TARDIS before grabbing Jenny's hand and walking slowly down the corridor to Rose's bedroom.

He plucked Jenny up when they reached the door and put his finger to his lips. Jenny copied him and he smiled. He reached a hand into one of his bigger-on-the-inside pockets and pulled out a tissue, which he used to wipe Jenny's nose. Then, with one last "shh" to Jenny, the Doctor very slowly turned the handle and pushed open the door.

It was dark inside, and he felt Jenny's hands clutch slightly tighter at his collar. Pressing a kiss to her forehead – it was when doing that that he felt most like a father, he realised – he crept across the carpet and over to the sleeping form that lay in the bed, wrapped up in the old pink duvet and breathing steadily.

The Doctor gently placed Jenny on the bed – she was small enough that the shift in weight did not alert Rose to the fact that someone else was now sitting on her mattress. Jenny looked up at the Doctor, and he grinned and nodded, before giving her a gentle nudge towards the top of the bed. She crawled quickly over the covers, tiny hands and feet negotiating the springy terrain with more determination than skill. Still, she was up by Rose's head in no time. The Doctor watched with amusement, trying to stifle a laugh at the sight of Jenny poking Rose's cheek with one of her miniature fingers.

"Wose." When Rose did not respond, Jenny began to pat her cheek, before grabbing some of the messy blonde hair that lay across the pillow and pulling it. The Doctor winced and darted forward, but Jenny had been quite gentle, exerting just enough force for Rose to be pulled from her deep sleep.

"Huh? Doctor, what?" she mumbled, eyes still half closed. At that moment, the TARDIS turned up the lights to a soft glow – not enough to hurt Rose's eyes, but enough for her to be able to see what was going on in her room that morning.

"Wose," Jenny repeated, grinning a little grin, a miniature version of one of her father's beaming smiles, "Wose, bedast!"

"Wha'? Oh, hi Jenny." The Doctor saw Rose's sleepy smile and watched as she reach up to ruffle the excited toddler's hair. "What are you doing in here? Did your dad think it would be funny?"

"As a matter of fact, I simply decided that if you wanted to stay in bed and deprive Jenny of time to play with you, then you'd better explain it to her yourself."

While the Doctor had been speaking Jenny had been mumbling to herself, getting progressively louder. "Wose, bedast! Bedast, bedast, bedast!"

"What is she saying?" Rose asked, sitting up and stretching her arms in the air. Jenny attempted to tickle her ribs, with little success, and Rose laughed. "Stop that you, I've only just woken up."

"She's saying "breakfast". It's her latest word, she's very proud of herself. She's been demanding breakfast at all hours of the day and night, just because she can."

"Well at least she's got her priorities straight." Rose swung her legs off the side of the bed. The Doctor noted that she was only wearing a t-shirt and knickers, and attempted to divert his gaze to somewhere that wasn't Rose's legs. Jenny, on the other hand, had scrambled over to the edge of the bed and was sitting with her legs hanging over the edge, just like Rose. Rose stuck her feet out straight and wiggled her toes, laughing when Jenny did the same. "Doctor, d'you think if I threw a pillow at your head, she'd copy me?"

"I really don't want to find out," replied the Doctor, standing up and walking over to face the two of them, sitting side by side on the bed with their legs outstretched. Rose attempted to trip up the Doctor on his way past, and he gave her a look of triumph as he hopped over her ankle, picking up Jenny from the bed. "Come on, Mrs, let's go get you some breakfast."

"Bedast!" Jenny yelled in victory, "bedast! 'nana, 'nana!"

"I take it she likes bananas then."

The Doctor threw Rose a look of incredulity. "How could you even doubt it? Of course she does, Rose, they're her favourite!"

After she had gotten dressed, Rose joined the Doctor and Jenny in the kitchen. The Doctor was singing a song in a language that Rose did not recognise, and Jenny was attempting to join in, her face and hands already covered with banana. Rose sat at the table with a cup of tea in order to try and wake herself up – the Doctor felt quite bad for waking her up earlier than normal, and made her peanut butter on toast as a sorry.

"So where are we going today?"

"Not sure," said the Doctor in between gulps of team, "I thought I might just hit random and see where we end up. Of course," – he nodded his head towards Jenny – "I'll have to do a sweep to make sure it's safe for her. You understand."

"'Course." The Doctor was certain he saw a flicker of emotion behind her eyes, but it was gone before he could register it properly. "I just need to go get my jacket." Rose stood up and walked out of the door. Seeing her leaving, turning her back and walking away just as she used to in his dreams, stirred something inside the Doctor, and all of a sudden he just couldn't stand to hold back any longer.

Leaving Jenny in her high chair at the kitchen table, mashing some banana with her spoon and giggling at nothing, the Doctor sprinted out into the corridor.

"Rose!"

She stopped and turned, eyes showing concern. "What is it?"

"Nothing, it's... nothing."

She threw him a look. "Ah, I see. I forgot how you always yell and chase after me when there's absolutely nothing you need me for. Oh wait... that's right, you don't do that. So what's up?"

If he had caught her just after she had woken up she would not have been this sharp. With his mental capacities dulled for a reason that he could not quite specify – though he suspected the culprit was the woman standing in front of him with a sceptical smirk on her face - he had absolutely no chance at keeping up with her quick wit that morning. "Yeah, there is something. Yep, definitely is. If I could just think of it."

Rose sighed. "Well when you've remembered it, Doctor, you know where to find me." She began to turn away, but the Doctor lunged forward and grabbed her arm.

"No, wait."

She turned back towards him. He could normally read even the tiniest twitches and quirks of her facial expression, but this one wasn't particularly hard to gauge. It was confusion, mixed with a liberal amount of curiosity and just a drop of amusement. The Doctor was aware that he was acting quite strange – no doubt his own facial expression was something to behold.

"Rose, I..." Nothing. He opened his mouth and, for the first time in a while, there was nothing coming out. Knowing that Rose was going to want an explanation for this later, the Doctor decided that, if his mouth wasn't going to be occupied with explaining away his erratic behaviour, it may as well be made use of elsewhere. Without another thought he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her towards him.

Her body was pressed against his, and the Doctor raised one hand to cup her cheek, hoping to any deity in the universe that could possibly exist that he had not just made a ridiculous decision to do this. Rose's eyes, however, convinced him he had made the right choice. Smiling a little, he leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to hers. From there on in, it seemed as though the floodgates had burst open.

Rose flung her arms around his neck without a second thought, pulling his face to hers and knotting her hands into his hair. He, on the other hand, wrapped his arms so tightly around her waist that he was a little bit worried he was crushing her. Judging by the delighted moan that escaped from her when he sucked on her lower lip, she did not mind being crushed. To be honest, death by kissing seemed a pretty good way to go.

Her lips were soft but strong, moving with his and almost challenging him to go further. He accepted the challenge, his tongue making the intrepid journey into Rose's mouth in a matter of seconds. She tasted absolutely brilliant – all of his taste buds were on fire and her tongue was dancing with his. She tasted like tea and he knew there was a reason he enjoyed tea so much and this must be it and he needed more of it, so much more and right this second. Also peanut butter – a good choice, even if he did say so himself since he had made her breakfast, sweet and delicious and wow, Rose really knew what she was doing with her tongue. The last moan that he had registered had definitely not come from her. Rose's hands were caressing the back of his neck – how had he not realised until now how much he liked to be touched there? He growled when she scraped with her nails, his hands roving up and down her back, feeling the skin that was separated from him only by a thin barrier of cloth and that he was aching to feel bare under his fingers.

In the other room there came the sound of something crashing to the floor, and the insistent cry of "Daddy! Daddy!" managed to jerk them out of the other world they had somehow found themselves in.

With much regret the Doctor pulled away from Rose. Her eyes looked slightly dazed, but she was grinning like a Halloween pumpkin and her cheeks were flushed bright pink. She lifted a hand to his face and he held it there for a second, closing his eyes.

"I take it that's what you wanted me for."

The Doctor smiled, not opening his eyes or moving from his spot. "Couldn't hold back any longer."

"Good thing too, 'cause otherwise I was going to snap first." He opened his eyes at that.

"What... you-?"

"Of course I wanted to – have done ever since I got back here. Well, longer than that really, but you know what I mean." Rose rolled her eyes. "Honestly Doctor, I was only not doing it because I was worried that you might not want to cross that line."

The Doctor waggled his eyebrows at her. "Consider it crossed."

Rose grinned. "Anyway, still got to go get my jacket. See you in a minute." She turned and walked off down the corridor, leaving the Doctor smiling after her like an idiot. After a few seconds, however, the smile faded as he realised the importance of what he had just done. Another cry from Jenny brought him back to reality with a resounding bang.

As he cleared up the mess that Jenny had managed to make with her banana – why did she think it was a good idea to rub everything in her hair? – the Doctor was deep in thought about his actions and what they meant. Had he started something that was going to snowball until it became too much to handle? He didn't know exactly what it was that Rose wanted, and he was aware that maybe having a child around had thrown her. He spent most of his nights when he wasn't sleeping pacing around the TARDIS, trying to work out what was the best way to go about sorting out their relationship. He would have loved to say that it didn't need sorting, but in reality that just wasn't true.

He sighed. They had been going out to different planets and exploring bits of history every day, but for the first time he felt a bit trapped in the TARDIS with Rose. He needed to get out, get some perspective. This was important stuff – if he mucked it up then he would be paying for it for the rest of his life. He thought about it for a minute, scratching his nose absent-mindedly, lips still tingling slightly from the thorough snogging that he had participated in. Wasn't it normal to talk to other people when you needed help with something?

He heard her footsteps coming down the corridor and yelled her name."Rose?" She peeked her head around the door at him, brows furrowing at his tone and expression.

"What?"

"D'you wanna go visit some friends?"


	9. Chapter 9

**This chapter is partly dedicated to my sister. Her name is Martha, and we have a three year old cousin who, until recently, could only say her name as "Thatha". I thought it was so cute that I put it in here.**

Martha was just making herself a cup of tea (she had her day off and had allowed herself a lie in) when she heard the familiar wheezing noise that could only mean one thing.

Smiling, she quickly filled up the kettle and flicked the switch, before getting out two more mugs. "Mickey!" she called up the stairs. "You might want to hang around just a few more minutes!"

She could hear his thundering footsteps as he dashed around getting ready for work. UNIT wanted him in to look at an artefact that had been found. It was suspected to be Krillitane, and Mickey was one of the only humans who had had contact with that race of creatures. "But Mar, I'm gonna be late as it is!"

"Seriously, just wait a minute. You won't regret it." He came hurtling down the stairs, two at a time, before sprinting into the kitchen. "Look out there," Martha told him, pointing to the window that overlooked their small, green garden. There, on the small patch of grass bordered by flowerbed, had materialised a small, blue box. Mickey grinned.

"It's them!"

He and Martha raced each other out of the door, Martha batting Mickey's hands away as he fumbled with the latch. They were standing on the grass just in time for the door to open. Rose Tyler stuck her head out. "I take it this is the Jones and Smith residence?" she said, grinning.

"You bet it is." Mickey started forward and embraced Rose as soon as she stepped away from the doors, Martha quickly following suit. "Why didn't you tell us you were showing up?"

"We only just decided," Rose admitted, tucking her hair behind her ears, "I wasn't sure where you'd be, but the Doctor looked you up and found you were both registered at the same residence." She raised an eyebrow and the couple in front of her smiled, a bit shyly.

Martha took Mickey's hand. "I knew the Doctor'd find out. He seems to have ways of knowing these things."

"To be honest, I think it was the TARDIS that knew – the Doctor basically just does what she tells him"

"Oi, that is a preposterous lie!" The man himself stepped through the blue doors, stopping and turning to look back inside. "It's OK, come on out." He held the door open, and a tiny blonde head poked out, holding onto the blue wood as though it were a safety blanket. "Look, that's Martha, you remember her?" Jenny still seemed uncertain, so the Doctor picked her up and brought her over to say hello.

"Doctor," said Martha, smiling. She hugged him tightly and he responded with his free arm, grinning manically.

"Martha Jones – so glad to see you again. And Mickey!" He seemed delighted, and shook Mickey's hand very enthusiastically. "Good old Mickey Smith – or should it be Mickey Jones, now?"

Mickey laughed. "No, it's still Smith. And I take it this is Jenny?"

Jenny was looking from the Doctor's grinning face to the unknown one in front of her. The Doctor saw her looking and stroked her hair soothingly. "Jenny, this is Mickey. He's a good friend of mine and Rose's. And that's Martha, you know her. Remember?"

"I wouldn't have thought she would, Doctor, it's been a while. Actually, how long has it been for you two?"

"Only a few weeks for us since the last time we saw you," Rose explained. "I didn't want to cause a scene, knew you'd be busy after everything that went on, so I asked to the Doctor to leave it for a while. "How long's it been for you?"

"Nearly a year," Mickey replied. Rose winced.

"I promise we won't leave it so long next time, will we Doctor?" She elbowed the Time Lord, who looked up sharply from his daughter.

"Of course not," he confirmed, rubbing the sore spot on his arm. "And I'm sure she will remember you, Martha. Better memories than humans, us Time Lords."

Jenny was looking hard at Martha, hands still holding the Doctor's lapels. "Thatha?"

Martha laughed out loud. "Yes, Martha, that's right! Wow, Doctor, it must've been 3 or 4 months for you since I last saw her, and she still knows my name!"

Jenny held out her arms to Martha, and the Doctor handed her over. "Thatha," repeated Jenny, patting Martha's cheek before turning to Rose and pointing hard at Martha. "Thatha."

"Told ya," said the Doctor, grinning smugly, "Time Lords don't forget."

"Ah, I guess that means you never learned how to fly the TARDIS properly in the first place, since I know you couldn't have _forgotten _ how to manage the controls," Rose teased.

The Doctor frowned. "Sometimes you are very mean to me, Rose."

Rose shrugged. "Sometimes it's quite amusing, Doctor." Martha and Mickey laughed, and Martha invited them in for a cup of tea. The Doctor gestured for her to lead the way, but Jenny made a noise of protest and wriggled in Martha's arms, stretching her arms towards the garden.

"It seems Jenny wants to stay out here," the Doctor said, looking on with amusement as Martha placed Jenny on the ground. The little girl took off immediately on her short legs, the small amount of grass seeming like an endless playing field to her. "I'd better stay out here and keep an eye on her. You go in, have tea. I'll see you in a bit." Mickey elected to stay outside as well, knowing that sitting down and drinking tea would not help with the fact that he was already late. SO it was only Rose that ended up following Martha inside the house for a cuppa and a chat.

Within minutes Rose was sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea with Martha and this all seemed very surreal. Being in the TARDIS with the Doctor, it was hard to adjust to just going to someone's house for a cup of tea.

"So how have things been for you, then? Still at UNIT?"

Martha nodded. "Yeah, I was with Torchwood for a while, but it wasn't really for me. I wanted to actually put my doctor's skills to use, you know. Me and Mickey have sort of gone freelance, I guess."

Rose hesitated, unsure of how to phrase her next question. "So, are you and Mickey...?"

Martha nodded, and Rose sensed a little bit of trepidation. "Yeah, yeah we are. Is that-"

Rose quickly cut in. "Just to be clear, the only thing I care about is that you're both happy. I mean, I'm happy that you've managed to move on and find someone, especially if it's Mickey. I gather that you had it pretty rough from the Doctor for a while."

"Yeah. I mean, he was grieving at the time. I didn't really get it at first, it was only after a long time that I heard him and Jack talking and really realised what had happened to you. He took it very badly."

Rose sighed. "I know. He just thinks everything is his fault, you know?"

"Yeah, he took some of it out on me, but I didn't let him sit around and pity himself."

"Good for you." Rose grinned. She really did like Martha a lot, which could have been awkward, given what she had surmised about Martha's previous feelings towards the Doctor. She also felt a bit bad, seeing as it had been losing her that had caused the Doctor to act like a bit of a prick towards Martha in those few months after Torchwood. Still, it all seemed to have worked out OK now.

Martha was actually looking pretty jumpy, compared to the happy yet calm and collected aura she had exuded when Rose had last seen her. "Can you keep a secret? Had to tell someone, we're just too excited."

"What?" Rose asked, though she thought she already had a pretty good idea of what Martha was about to say. Her suspicions were confirmed a few seconds later.

"I'm pregnant."

Rose let a few seconds of stunned silence pass before jumping up and giving Martha an enormous hug. "Congratulations," she grinned, hearing Martha laugh. She pulled back and surveyed Martha. "You can't be that far gone, I would never have been able to tell."

Martha grinned, hand on her stomach. "Yeah, it's not showing yet. Mickey's over the moon about it. I am too, I guess. Bit scary, but what isn't?" She laughed and Rose joined her.

"So how is it for you, the Doctor having Jenny and all? It must've changed his lifestyle a lot."

Gearing up to try and explain how odd it had been since she had been back, Rose nodded. "Yeah, definitely. I mean, he never used to be this careful before. I've been on the TARDIS a couple of weeks now, and we haven't run into any unexpected danger. Not once." Martha's eyes widened. "Don't get me wrong, of course I want us to be safe, but still... it's weird."

"How are you two? I mean... you know." Martha was looking at Rose in such a way that Rose was absolutely certain of her meaning.

"We're OK. I know," she continued, seeing Martha's face, "OK isn't what I expected either. I suppose this parent thing threw me a bit, and everything's changed a bit because of that, but it's not just that. I didn't want to dance around it this time around – we got a second chance, you know – but somehow I just can't cross that line."

"Well, he draws a lot of lines, that Doctor," said Martha shrewdly, with a half-smile etched on her face.

"Exactly, and I just don't really know what to do right now. I never really thought I'd want the whole "family" thing, especially after I met the Doctor. I just thought we'd carry on as we were for as long as we could. You've seen that sort of life, you know what I mean." Martha nodded, and Rose felt a twinge of happiness that there was a woman sitting in front of her who actually did know what it was like. "And the thing is, the Doctor never seemed to want that life either. Obviously he has no choice in the matter, but it just makes me think... is this where I want to be? I mean, I'm not quite a part of their family and I really don't know what to do. I'm worried we'll get forced apart – the Doctor likes to push people away when he's worried about the future, Jenny's the perfect excuse for him to do that."

Martha placed a hand on Rose's. "Rose, I know you're having doubts about what you want to do and whether you want this, but the Doctor did too." Rose had been looking at her knees for a moment or so, but her head snapped up when she heard what Martha was saying.

"What?"

"Oh yeah. When Jenny first came out of that machine, he wouldn't even accept she was his. Said that part of him was dead or something. Well, Donna gave him an earful, like she does, and in the end her sort of accepted that she came from him. And then he had to take her on the TARDIS with him. I didn't see much of that – he dropped me back home soon after – but I kept in touch with Donna and apparently it was a while before he really knew what he was doing. Actually considered settling down at one point." Martha giggled.

"The Doctor? In a house? With carpets?" Rose laughed out loud.

"I'm not saying you have to suddenly decide what you're doing." Martha was now serious again, looking at Rose with eyes that seemed to know what Rose was worrying about. "I'm just saying that even things that seem huge can become manageable over time. Give it a while, see how you feel. I'm sure you're not going to want to leave the Doctor." Rose shook her head fiercely. "Thought as much. Well just see if you can't get used to this sort of life. It might be a bit different, but there's a chance you could love it just as much."

Rose sighed. "I suppose that means that I really shouldn't do anything about "us" until I've figured out everything else, right? Shame, he kissed me this morning and it was... brilliant."

Martha smirked. "Wow, kissing. Tell that Time Lord to calm down, he might over-exert himself." Rose raised an eyebrow. "But yeah, maybe give it a minute. Or at least, wait for him to show you where he stands. If he's worried that you're feeling like this – and he's probably noticed, the amount of time he spends staring at you – he might want to take it slow."

"Over four years is slow enough for me," Rose said glumly, before shaking her head a bit and standing up. "I'll go get him so you can chat with him before we go. If he's playing with Jenny he'll have forgotten any of us existed."

"Not jealous at all, are we Rose?" Martha asked, voice sugary sweet.

"Oh no," Rose replied in a tone that suggested butter would not melt in her mouth, "of course not. I couldn't care less about getting the Doctor's attention." She smiled widely before turning around and making her way to the back door. She opened it and stepped out, eyes quickly taking in the sight of the Doctor and Mickey laughing at Jenny, who appeared to have run around in circles so much that she had gotten dizzy and fallen spectacularly on the grass. She was lying there on her back, holding her feet in her hands and giggling.

"Oi." It was an easy way to grab his attention. The Doctor turned towards her. "Martha wants you."

The Doctor scooped up Jenny from the ground, before giving Mickey a fist bump and lifting Jenny's hand so she could do the same. Mickey laughed, and the Doctor and his daughter disappeared inside the house. Mickey grinned at Rose, though his smile quickly vanished when he looked at his watch.

"Shit, I was supposed to be gone five minutes ago. God, you show up at the most inappropriate times, you know that don't you?"

Rose shrugged and nodded. "Oh yeah, we do. We do it deliberately, just to inconvenience you."

"Thought as much." He quickly ran over and gave Rose a massive hug. "Come back and visit soon, yeah? We missed you – both of you. Well, all three of you now, I guess."

"I hear we're not the only ones who are expanding from 2 to 3 in the family."

Mickey looked delighted. "So Martha told you then? Yep, we're gonna be a family, really! I'm a bit scared, but it'll be alright. The Doctor manages it, and we all know how bad he is at dealing with people."

"Oi." Rose nudged him in the ribs, but she knew he was only joking. "I'm so happy for you."

"Me too." He smiled again, before closing his eyes in despair. "Oh god, now I am really ridiculously late. See you soon, Rose, say goodbye to the Doctor for me."

He ran off into the house, leaving Rose alone in the garden to ponder all that she had learned in the last hour. She supposed that she could have felt a bit weird about Mickey and Martha getting together, but all she actually felt was a deep happiness that they had found each other. They seemed so in love with each other, even in the few minutes that Rose had seen them together. She had to wonder if that was what people saw when she and the Doctor were together. What Mickey had had to put up with all that time.

Still, what Martha had said made a lot of sense. She needed to think this through and come to terms with it. After a while she thought that she might be able to come to terms with this slightly different life. Time would sort it out, as it always did. And as for her and the Doctor, they were as close as they ever were before. They would get there eventually, it couldn't be that hard.

There in Martha and Mickey's garden, leaning against the TARDIS doors in the sunshine, Rose Tyler had completely no idea just how wrong she was.


	10. Chapter 10

**So the angst is here. Sorry, but it was always going to arrive sooner or later. **

Martha had a few words with the Doctor when he got into the house. Mostly they were friendly and good-natured, and the Doctor enjoyed talking to his old friend, but there were definitely some words of warning mixed in there as well.

"Rose is very worried. About you, about Jenny, about the future. What's going on and what she wants and what you think. Seriously, you've got to talk to her."

The Doctor sighed, giving off the air of a child who does not want a lecture from his parents when he could be out climbing trees right this second. He had known this was a bad idea as soon as he set the co-ordinates on the console. He didn't really want to talk about what was going on between him and Rose, and it seemed now that he was going to whether he liked it or not. "Martha, it's really fi-"

"No it isn't," Martha said sharply, folding her arms and demonstrating the strong will that the Doctor had always admired in her. "You might not think it because she hasn't said anything, but when she spoke to me it all came out easily enough. You," – she pointed an accusing finger – "keep stuff bottled up and your emotions at bay. Rose isn't like that – I don't know her that well and even I can see that. She likes to talk about what she's feeling, and right now she's extremely anxious. You can't tell me you haven't noticed."

She had caught him out, and he knew it. The Doctor had definitely noticed the slight changes in Rose's actions and expressions that indicated there was something wrong.

"OK, I've noticed." He slumped down on one of the kitchen chairs, watching as Jenny toddled around the kitchen yet not really seeing her. "I just wanted to give her time to adjust – it's been different since Jenny arrived, you know that. But this morning it got too much and I kissed her and now..." He rubbed his eyes with one hand. "What should I do?"

He could tell that Martha was shocked that he had asked her advice, but this time he really needed some help. This was much too important for him to muck it up now, when they were so close.

"I'd say you need to give it time. Shouldn't be hard for you, Time Lord." The Doctor gave a half smile at that. "Just let her get used to it, and move slowly. I know it's hard, considering how long it's been for you two, but if you rush into it there's a chance it could all go wrong, you know?"

He definitely did know.

A few quick words and a hug later, the Doctor, Martha and Jenny were back in the garden with Rose.

The Doctor looked closely at Rose while she hugged Martha goodbye. She seemed happy, but distant, as though there were something on her mind. A significant look that passed between the two women indicated that they had indeed had a conversation about him and Rose.

Just as they stepped into the TARDIS, the Doctor turned back, Jenny waving a small hand in an extended goodbye. "Oh, I almost forgot. Congratulations."

Martha grinned, hand on her stomach. "You'd better be back when the baby's born. It can be a friend for Jenny – plus it gives you a reason to visit more often."

"I swear," the Doctor vowed, holding up one hand in a solemn oath. He turned and made his way into the TARDIS, shutting the door behind him. "Did you enjoy that?" he asked Jenny, who was playing with his tie.

"Daddy, Wose gone." Jenny was pointing at the opposite door, the one that Rose had apparently just vanished through. If her expression before they left had been anything to go by, she needed a bit of time to compose herself before they carried on with their lives.

He sighed, sitting Jenny on the console and tickling her feet before setting the co-ordinates for a planet halfway across the galaxy with spectacular views across an ocean so large and so still that it appeared there was nothing but sky all the way to the horizon.

They had time to sort things out another day; they always had a little bit of time on their hands. Unfortunately, it was during this little bit of time that things began to escalate.

The first time it happened they were on an alien planet. It had been about 2 weeks since they had visited Martha and Mickey, and Rose was feeling optimistic. She had been trying to give herself time to adjust, just like Martha had told her, and she found that she was becoming happier by the day. Of course, the main reason for her not being completely overjoyed was the fact that, per Martha's other advice, she had not yet pursued her relationship with the Doctor. She had not exactly been pushing him away, more... letting him make up his own mind. She might not want to waste any more time dancing around the edge of their feelings, but the Doctor was still the Doctor and he was not going to change overnight.

There was some sort of market going on, and they were strolling through, taking in the sights and sounds of a new world. Jenny was enjoying herself, and Rose and the Doctor were holding hands, laughing and flirting and acting just as they always had. Despite the extra person with them, in this moment it was hard to remember that they had ever been parted.

The Doctor was examining some sort of singing fruit – Rose didn't even want to ask – when they heard shouts and screams coming from a few streets across. The people around them began to run, pushing and shoving, and Rose had to fight to stay beside the Doctor as he stared in the direction of the disturbance.

"What is it, Doctor?"

"Don't know," he replied, which was worrying in itself, "could be some sort of riot? Maybe an accident?"

It was only when gunshots started to fire off that he took action. "Here," he commanded, placing Jenny in Rose's arms. "Take her back to the TARDIS. Don't do anything until I get back."

At first Rose was stunned, only able to stare at the back of his head as it disappeared into the jostling crowd around her. Jenny, seeming to sense the tension and probably disgruntled about having been shoving in Rose's arms like a sack of potatoes, began to cry.

"Shh," Rose soothed, stroking Jenny's blonde hair in a way that she had learned calm the toddler down quite quickly. "Daddy'll be back soon, he's just got something he needs to do. Let's get back to the TARDIS, eh?" Jenny looked at Rose with large, teary brown eyes before burying her face in Rose's jacket. She seemed tired all of a sudden. Rose swiftly made her way back to the TARDS, suddenly very aware of how vulnerable holding a small child made her. She had not had to worry about it much before now – the Doctor always picked such safe places to visit that it hadn't been an issue – but her time working with Torchwood had taught Rose to always be aware of her position, and right now her position was exposed and vulnerable. Her pace quickened, and she could not breathe evenly until she and Jenny were back home, the blue wooden doors barring them from whatever chaos was going on in the rest of this strange world.

It had been a tense few minutes, but the Doctor had returned after not too long, saying that it had been a peaceful protest that had somehow gotten out of hand, nothing to worry about.

And Rose had smiled and hugged him and been glad they were OK, but inside her head a battle was raging. She did not want to be bundled back to the TARDIS like that. Since when had that ever been a thing that they did? Sure, Jenny had to be kept safe, but bringing her back here and then going off together would not have taken more than 2 minutes to accomplish. Jenny would have been perfectly safe inside the TARDIS, and they could have gone off together to make sure everything was OK.

After a little while watching the Doctor letting Jenny push buttons on the console – she probably flew the TARDIS better than the Doctor did – Rose decided to just let it go. She wasn't happy with it, but it had been a spur of the moment thing. He had panicked, just as she might have done. It was over with now.

But it wasn't. Not less than a week later, the Doctor did it again. And the second time, Rose was not going to let it blow over.

They were just on their way back to the TARDIS after another day of exploring a new world when there was an enormous bang somewhere behind them, though bang was hardly an appropriate word for it in Rose's mind. The sound crashed against her eardrums and vibrated deep in her bones, rattling her teeth in her head. The Doctor had jammed his hands over Jenny's ears, but she was still crying, howling in fear rather than pain. Nevertheless, it was heartbreaking to see, and the Doctor tried to comfort her even as another explosion shook the ground they were standing on.

"Back to the TARDIS," the Doctor ordered. Rose resented being pushed around by him, but this was not really a moment where she could make him listen to any arguments she had. Before she knew it she was clutched a wailing Jenny, and the Doctor sprinting away from them, long coat flying as he ran.

Stunned as she was by his actions, it took Rose a couple of seconds to realise what on earth had just happened. Yet again, she found herself in a vulnerable position, practically sprinting across the fields and through the woods to where the TARDIS was parked with a crying child held close to her chest. They reached the doors quickly, and Rose shoved her hand in her pocket only to realise what had happened. Her key was inside the TARDIS. It was her jacket pocket – the jacket that the Doctor had persuaded her she did not need, and was right now sitting in the control room, the only device that could get them inside the doors lying in one of the pockets.

Realising that the explosions were dying down, and that the best course of action was probably just to wait for the Doctor to get back and let them inside, Rose curled up against the wooden doors, body curved protectively around Jenny, who had stopped crying and soon fell asleep in Rose's arms. Jenny's steady breathing could have soothed her – instead it served as a constant reminder that Rose should be with the Doctor. She should not be stuck here in the open with no protection from whatever was happening a mile or so away. The Doctor had forced her into this frankly dangerous situation without even asking her. He was sending her away for her own good again. The more she thought about it, the more she seethed. When he returned, he was going to get an earful, of that she was sure.

Once the Doctor was back and had let them in, apparently unhurt though slightly singed – "Small meteor storm, apparently. The atmosphere's very strange here; a chemical in the ground ignited each one, they didn't know how to cope with it. Nearly got hit by a stray flame, it burned me as it went past, look!" – Rose handed his daughter to him stiffly and left the room, knowing that anything she said now would most likely escalate into a full blown argument. She did not want Jenny to hear that. She spent the next few minutes sitting on her bed, clenching and unclenching her fists in an attempt to get a grip on her anger. She could not. She was brimming over with emotions, and she was going to have this out with the Doctor whether he liked it or not.

Rose reappeared in the console room after the Doctor had put Jenny to bed. She needed to talk to him, right now, before her rage ebbed and she forgot why this was so important.

"Doctor, you cannot do that to me again."

"Do what?" He did not even look up from the console, and that just served to make Rose angrier. Stupid, arrogant arse. Who the hell did he think he was?

"Leave me behind." Rose said it loudly, clearly, so he could not mistake the words for anything else.

The Doctor finally dragged his eyes from the console to meet her gaze. He looked ever so slightly confused. "I didn't leave you behind."

Rose folded her arms and huffed, trying not to become aware of how like her mother she became in these moments. "Oh, I'm sorry. Sending me back to the TARDIS so I won't be able to save you and giving me your child _then _sending me back to the TARDIS so I can't save you are completely different things. My mistake."

That penetrated his shell. He took a couple of steps away from the console, removing his glasses as he did do. "Rose, I had to keep Jenny safe. Things were going to start exploding; I had to get her out of there."

"Yes you did. You didn't have to send me back with her and go running off on your own, putting yourself in danger and leaving me here to worry about you. You've done it twice now. The first time I thought I'd let it go, but I'm stopping you now before it becomes a habit."

"Needed to protect her, I thought you'd understand."

"How could you do that to me, knowing what I've been through?" A flash of confusion in his eyes was all Rose needed to pour out everything she was feeling. "Being separated from you! Being sent away for my own good! Fighting for years to get back to you! Being told what's best for me and not being allowed to make my own choices. How could you ever imagine I would be OK with what you just did? There was plenty of time to get Jenny back here and then go together, but you couldn't do that, could you?" She would never normally interrogate him like this – she preferred to wait and give it time - but that guarded expression was creeping into his eyes again and Rose knew that she wasn't going to get through to him if she didn't strike while the iron was hot.

He glared at her. "I was just doing what I thought was best."

"Well you thought wrong, didn't you!" Rose took a step towards him, then a step back, unable to keep her feet still. "I didn't have my damn TARDIS key. Normally I would, normally I'd never let it leave my side, but it was in my jacket pocket and I didn't have my jacket on today, did I? Had it ready in here, but you said I wouldn't need it. 'Oh no, Rose, who needs to be covered up on a day like this?' Well I didn't have it, so me and Jenny were stuck outside the TARDIS while god knows what was happening. That wasn't the best. That wasn't keeping her safe."

"Well I trusted that you wouldn't be stupid enough to leave your key behind."

"Oh come on!" Rose laughed once, a hollow sound that had not one ounce of humour in it. "People forget things sometimes, Doctor, we aren't perfect. But the thing is that, if we'd stayed together and taken her back here, or if you'd told me where you'd be so I could come and find you, then me and Jenny wouldn't have been alone outside the TARDIS while you went AWOL."

His eyes flashed dangerously. "I was saving people's lives, Rose," he said, very quietly, "I was doing what I always do."

"No, what _we _always do. But I wasn't around for that bit, was I? I'm not staying here for this!" Her voice was getting higher in pitch, but if it got through to the Doctor that way then she wasn't going to stop. "I am not sitting on this TARDIS and being a glorified... babysitter or whatever it is you think I'm going to do while you're off saving the world. You normally take us to safe places where she could never come to harm – at first I thought that would be boring, but it's infinitely preferable to this. We used to be a team!"

"Well this might come as a surprise to you Rose, but my child's safely comes before your feelings of abandonment or whatever it is that this," – he gestured towards her with a flailing hand – "is!" He was getting extremely angry now, and under all of the anger and pain she was feeling, a tiny sliver of fear made itself known. He barely ever directed this sort of thing at her. She understood why people fled from his gaze.

"Yeah, and the only person who's being affected by your child's safety is me! Jenny is kept safe in the TARDIS, you get to go off and play hero, and what do I do? I wait here for you? What a brilliant prospect for a life that is! She's your responsibility, she's not mine!"

The Doctor took three steps forward then, towering over Rose in a way that she was sure would have terrified her, was she not so certain that he needed to hear what she was saying.

"So you want to come with me and be here, but as soon as you're not the most important woman in my life, it all goes wrong, does it?" He was speaking too quietly, and Rose began to shiver. She was reminded yet again of another conversation, of accusing him of jealousy because he wasn't the most important man in her life any more. Just the idea that she was being that selfish made her bristle.

"Of course I am not saying that! She's your daughter; of course she's the most important thing to you. And the fact that you trust me to get her back to the TARDIS and keep her safe, that's great. But the fact is, I don't want to be in the TARDIS. I want to be out there with you, like we used to be. Fighting the forces of evil together, meeting aliens, getting locked up and having to break out using your shoelaces and my bra wire. _That _is what I wanted when I came back here. I want the universe, not the inside of this box."

The Doctor made an unintelligible noise under his breath. "Hmph. Just the universe – that's simple enough." Damn him and his sarcasm. He wasn't really listening to her, or if he was, he wasn't hearing her properly.

"No, you don't understand. What we used to do, that was you giving me the universe. We could go anywhere, we could do anything. We were together. That's the universe." Her voice was gentler now. The Doctor had dropped his gaze from hers, staring instead at some spot on the console. She hoped that that meant she was getting through to him. "So next time something bad happens – which hopefully shouldn't be too often - you bring Jenny back to the TARDIS and we go and do what we do. Together! How is that so hard for you to understand!"

When he looked up and met her eyes this time, Rose could see how wrong she was about him accepting what she was trying to say. "I can handle myself on my own, I don't know what the hell made you think that I couldn-"

Rose clenched her fists, a scream of frustration not far off." "Oh I don't know why I might think that, maybe it's because the last time you were left alone YOU NEARLY ENDED UP FUCKING DEAD!" The silence that rushed in after that truth bomb felt distinctly like ice. Rose let the silence hang in the air for a second before carrying on in a voice that sounded almost dead, event to her. "I could deal with Jenny and the change and even the aging thing. But if you think for one second I am living my life as a subordinate to you. As a... a... a helper or a, a fucking assistant, waiting for you to do the important stuff, then you've got another thing coming."

She spun around, anger controlling her movements, leading her towards the TARDIS door no matter what was out there. Whatever it could be, it was preferable to being in here, with him. For the first time the TARDIS did not seem big enough.

Rose wrenched the door open, and just before stepping out of it she turned back to face the Doctor. His face was set, anger and stubbornness glaring out at her from his dark eyes, lips curled in a way that was almost cruel. She felt pain in her chest that she could feel this much anger and hurt and sorrow towards him, but it couldn't be helped. This tall, skinny man standing before her was such a big part of her life. As soon as she began to have problems with him, they seemed to take over everything. "You can keep pushing me away if you want, Doctor. But eventually I'm just not gonna want to come back. You're going to force me out of here." She paused for a second, not knowing whether she was being too harsh. "Well done." She stepped out and slammed the door behind her, stomping away from the TARDIS.

He did not follow her and she did not care. All Rose wanted was to be away from that box for a while. To forget that all she had been working towards in the other universe had come to this. Throwing insults and cruel words at him and playing second fiddle to that pompous, idiotic, emotionally repressed man who she still loved with everything she was.

Tears began to slide down her cheeks, blurring her vision, but still she kept walking. He was always running from his problems; maybe she should try it for a change.


	11. Chapter 11

**OK, this really is the last one before I go on holiday - I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon so it's official, no more chapters for 2 weeks. I am really sorry for leaving this one how it ends - well, partly sorry. Part of me quite enjoys giving people the pain that has been inflicted on me by countless authors and tv writers for my entire life. Not exactly a cliffhanger, but I apologise anyway. See you in a fortnight!**

The Doctor waited until Rose had left before he slammed his hand down onto the console, jolting the controls and resulting in a strange moan from the TARDIS. He was left gripping onto the console, knuckles white, staring into the Time Rotor in silence.

He had never relished fighting with Rose, but this one had been the worst since that time when they had gone to see her father. Only this time it was Rose who had walked away, not him. She had been angrier than he had ever seen her, sarcastic and furious and brilliant in a way he had never seen before. He had been so incensed by Rose's comments and the implication that she did not care about his daughter that he had seen red. It was only now that the red haze was subsiding that he was able to think semi-logically about what she had said.

Surely he had not done that much damage with his actions? He recalled what had happened that day, Rose's face when he had come running up to the TARDIS, covered in soot and coughing, but undeniably alive. She had looked so relieved, but there had been something else hidden underneath her relief, if he had only been bothered to find out what it was.

To tell the truth, he had just about blown up when he had thought that Rose was putting herself above Jenny. He would do anything to keep Jenny safe and sound, and the idea that Rose might have a problem with his actions when his only thought was that his daughter needed protecting was absurd. However, now he had heard her side of the story – it had been more painful and shocking to hear than he would have thought possible – something became clear to him. _He _wanted to keep Jenny safe. _He _would do anything to protect her. And yet who had done the protecting? Who had kept Jenny safe when he was off trying to find out the source of the trouble? Rose.

And even if she was with him, together for as long as they could be, that did not mean that she had the responsibility of taking care of his offspring. That was his job. A job that he had thrust on Rose without a second thought at the first sign of any disturbance. And, to top it all off, he had run off and left her with that responsibility, basically rendering her helpless. How much was there she could do with a tiny child there to protect and him nowhere to be found?

Now that he could see her point of view, the Doctor thought about slamming his head into the console, as well as his hand. No wonder she was angry. He did have a history of abandoning her in moments when she needed him, or sending her away for her own good even though she wanted to be there to help him. Of course it had shaken her, scared her even.

Once again, he had taken Rose's feelings for granted, and now he was paying the price.

Of course he wasn't apologising for trying to help people – he still believed that he had done the right thing by running off to save them – but now he realised that he had done exactly what he wanted, without any thought to Rose and what she might feel about that. He was taking away her choice and she was not going to stand for it.

He shook his head, scrunching up his eyes as he thought. Of course what Rose was suggesting was possible. It seemed slightly irresponsible, maybe, to leave a toddler alone in the TARDIS while her parent and the only other adult around went off to do dangerous deeds, but it was infinitely safer than being out with them.

And then of course, there was his last resort.

He had sorted it out with Martha, back when they had last visited. It was the memory of his Emergency Programme One that had spurred him on to consider the worst. If Jenny was in the TARDIS alone and the Doctor and Rose had not returned after a certain amount of time, Emergency Programme 5 would activate (he certainly had more than 5 emergency programmes, but this one was so important he had bumped it up the list to number 5.)

The TARDIS would immediately dematerialise and take Jenny to one place where she could be safe – with Martha and Mickey. Then, once Jenny had been retrieved from the TARDIS, it would disappear and come back to the spot where it had been left. Simply a safety precaution, in case he had been delayed in getting back. If he were still there, he could then fly the TARDIS back to Martha and get Jenny. If he had died – not a pleasant thought, but it had to be considered – then the TARDIS would simply materialise and remain in Martha and Mickey's back garden. Jenny would probably appreciate having it there as she grew up, a remnant of her father and her long dead race. He had recorded a few messages for Jenny in the event that he did not return one day, each one more painful to make than the last. He did not want to entertain the idea that his child might grow up an orphan, but there were some things he had to be prepared for.

So in theory, Rose's suggestion made sense. It was not as if they were going to be facing ridiculous dangers all the time – he was doing his best to restrict them to peaceful places with no danger whatsoever – but just in case, they had a plan. It had been twice in three weeks that he had had to give Jenny to Rose to take back to the TARDIS. A mistake on his part, but one that could be rectified.

And yet still, there was a part of him that acknowledged the fact that, if there was one thing he wanted in this universe, it was for Rose and Jenny to be safe. Those two people were just about all he had, aside from his TARDIS, and if keeping Jenny safe meant Rose being away from danger then – he was ashamed to admit it – he kind of wanted to continue with it. He had sent her away before for her own good – of course it had been the wrong decision and it had not worked – but the fact was that he was used to doing things for the good of other people, even if they didn't understand it at the time.

He shook his head, slumping down against the console. Trying to keep Rose out of danger and away from the life she wanted. What sort of horrible person would want such a thing for the person they love?

The sort of person who was terrified of losing their loved one forever, he supposed. He was a selfish, cruel old man, and he could not do that to her.

It was a minute or so later that he realised he had thought "love" without a second thought. There was that entire can of worms that he was trying not to open as well. The "being in love with Rose Tyler" thing that he had told Martha he would take slowly. Well, if there was one thing that would slow down that process, it was Rose storming off onto an alien planet and refusing to talk to him. That definitely worked.

He decided to put aside the future implications of his actions and focus on right now. Jenny was asleep and safe, which was good. Rose, on the other hand, had left the TARDIS. That was decidedly less good. That, he might even go so far as to say, was very very bad.

He strode to the TARDIS doors and threw them open, hoping that he would find Rose just outside, leaning against his ship. He wasn't sure what he was going to say, or how they were going to work this out, but one thing was for sure – he was definitely scared of losing Rose, and her being off on her own on an alien planet was really not helping matters.

"Rose?" he called out. The Doctor's voice sounded quieter than he remembered, swallowed up by the trees that were swiftly becoming engulfed in shadows. Soon it would be night, and the idea of Rose alone in the woods on another planet in the pitch darkness made the Doctor's stomach twist. There could be anything out there. Anything at all.

Rose was slumped against a tree. She had finished crying a while ago, but she was still in no mood to go back to the TARDIS and face him. Since her anger had ebbed away, doubts had begun to creep into her head. How could she even think of how she felt when that poor little girl had been so scared? She remembered the feeling of Jenny burying her face in her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around the child to protect her. Jenny had needed Rose, and Rose had been thinking about herself. She buried her face in her hands. Out here in the cool air, she was losing her grip on all her brilliant reasons why she was angry with the Doctor. She was certain she would remember them all later, but right now all she could feel was guilt, pain and an intense desire to curl up in bed and sleep for a couple of ice ages.

Once she looked around her and saw that it was nearly dark – it was that familiar sensation of looking up from reading a book and realising the entire room is in darkness – Rose quickly stood up and walked back in the direction of the TARDIS, dusting dried leaves off her bum as she did so. It took a few minutes, and some tense seconds where she was sure she was going to get completely lost, but Rose managed to navigate her way back to the TARDIS. She paused outside the door. Crap. She had forgotten her key, which was still in her jacket pocket in the console room.

As she tried to work up the courage to complete the humiliating act of knocking on the door for the Doctor to let her in, one of the doors swung open an inch or so. Suspecting that the TARDIS was at least a little bit on her side, and smiling for the first time in hours, Rose pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped inside.

The Doctor was sitting on the jump seat, twirling his sonic screwdriver absently in his fingers and staring into space. He heard the sound of the door closing, and leapt up from his seat, eyes frantically searching in the glow of the time rotor for Rose's face. She stayed where she was, not sure exactly how to greet him, if indeed she wanted to greet him at all. More than anything she wanted to just be in her bedroom, without the hassle of having to make excuses to the Doctor for going straight there without any conversation.

"I called after you." The Doctor's face was unreadable, but his eyes were bright and alive and staring into her own. In them Rose could see his worry, the relief that he felt that she was now back. A little taste of his own medicine. She had not intended it, but now the Doctor knew almost exactly how she had felt earlier when he had been off on his own. "You didn't shout back."

Rose shrugged, willing herself not to feel guilty for making him so scared. She could see how tense he was, and there was something akin to a physical ache in her chest as she restrained herself from running over to him and reassuring him that she wasn't going anywhere. She could really do with a hug right now, but he did not deserve one, no matter how worried he had been. "Didn't hear you."

"Oh, right."

Another long pause. It had never been as awkward as this before, not even after France.

"I'm going to bed then," Rose said matter-of-factly, taking a few steps towards the doorway on the opposite side of the room.

"Oh... right," the Doctor repeated. His fists were clenched, and Rose was sure that he was holding his breath. Even standing there in the same room as him, walking around the console in the direction of her bedroom, she missed him. She missed the way they had been first thing this morning, the easy way they spoke and the hand holding and the way he always seemed just on the verge of kissing her but never quite getting there. As it was, she maintained her distance, leaving the room with a simple "Goodnight," and not waiting to see if he returned the her farewell.

Rose almost ran down the corridor once she was through the doorway, so grateful was she to be able to get back to her own room and relax for a bit.

Once she had pushed the door until it was ajar – the little strip of light that flowed in through the corridor was something of a comfort, she had discovered – Rose changed into a baggy t-shirt and sat down in her bed. She pulled the duvet over her knees but remained sitting up, her mind too wound up to contemplate sleeping at that moment. She sat unmoving for at least 20 minutes, playing and replaying the events of the day in her mind. What an incredible mess they had managed to make.

All of a sudden the door began to swing open.

Rose sat up straight in alarm, not ready to talk to the Doctor about anything just yet, but it wasn't the Doctor who had pushed her door open. In the light from the doorway she could make out a tiny figure with a little mop of blonde hair.

"Jenny, what are you doing here?" Jenny's only answer was to run across the room and attempt to climb up on Rose's bed. "Did you climb out your cot? The Doctor was right; you're going to need a proper bed." She reached down and helped Jenny up next to her. The toddler seated herself next to Rose, legs under the duvet and head against the pink pillows behind her. "OK, just for a little while then," Rose said with a smile.

"Sorry about earlier," she continued conversationally, watching as Jenny pulled at the duvet with her tiny hands, "I guess I got a bit carried away. Hope you weren't too scared." Jenny didn't reply, too intent with trying to pull the covers up over her head. "We did alright though didn't we, out there on our own? Your daddy seemed to think we'd be fine. And we were, I suppose."

She pulled back the duvet that was now covering the lump that was Jenny, saying "Boo!" as she did so. Jenny giggled, before standing up and depositing herself in Rose's lap. Rose let the little girl sit between her legs, resting her chin on Jenny's head, blonde hair mingling with blonde.

"I do love you, you know that don't you?" Rose said quietly. It was definitely easier speaking to someone who seemed to be listening but probably didn't understand and couldn't talk back. It made her head feel clearer. "I just don't want to be told what to do by him. He wants to keep me safe here – sometimes I think he treats me just like he treats you, trying to protect you and everything. The only problem is that you're not even 2 yet. I'm 24. I can decide for myself what I want to do."

She paused, leaving a bit of silence through which she could hear Jenny humming some sort of nonsense song. She seemed content to just sit there and listen to Rose talk. "You know I'd much rather we didn't have to get separated at all. As much as I was worried it would be boring without all the danger and running away and things, I'd rather we were all together in nice, safe places, you know, like a fa-"

Rose stopped, biting her lip. A family. That wasn't exactly the sort of thing she had been expecting herself to want, and yet this strange arrangement on the TARDIS – when it wasn't in turmoil because she and the Doctor were at each other's throats – meant a lot more to her than she would have thought possible. She had been certain before that she and the Doctor were perfect together, but now it seemed that Jenny was not a barrier to their relationship, but rather an addition that they had not realised they wanted until she was there with them

Rose pressed a light kiss to the top of Jenny's head. Just as she was getting used to Jenny and the Doctor being a father and everything else she had poured out to Martha, the Doctor had managed to throw another spanner in the works. That and the fact that, despite wherever she thought they might be in their relationship, it had completely halted its progression now. The solving of each problem just seemed to throw up two more. It was a Hydra of dilemmas, and Rose was tired of chopping off its heads only to see more grow back again.

Snuggling so she was lying down a bit more in her bed, she shifted Jenny until she was lying on Rose's stomach. She turned herself around a bit and patted Rose's cheek. "Wose sad." Rose nodded, catching Jenny's hand and feeling the little fingers grasp tightly around her own. She felt like Jenny understood more than she should do sometimes. Maybe it was just Rose being paranoid, or maybe it was because she was a Time Lord and was therefore more advanced. Either way, she took comfort in holding hands with Jenny, even if there was another person whose hand she wanted to hold as well.

"Daddy?" Jenny was pointing to the door. It took Rose a second to get what she meant. She was asking if Rose wanted her to get the Doctor. Of course, Jenny's solution to anyone being sad would be for the Doctor to come and make them happy again. The problem was, on any day but today, Rose's solution would have been exactly the same.

"No, no Daddy right now, Jenny. We're fine just the two of us, right?" Jenny smiled and then yawned. Rose caught the yawn and felt her jaw stretch wide open. She needed some sleep – it had been an exhausting day.

"Your oblivious dad doesn't seem to understand," she muttered, feeling Jenny's breathing slow and just knowing that she was almost asleep, "he wants to protect me by keeping him here. But if I'm here, who's going to protect him?" Jenny's arms stretched around Rose in a hug, and Rose clutched her close to her chest. "Night night Jenny."

Just before she drifted off to sleep, Rose could have sworn she heard a shifting noise in the corridor. She looked towards the open door, and thought she might just have seen some movement, as though someone who were watching the scene in front of them had all of a sudden dashed away for fear of being caught. "Smooth, Doctor," she whispered drily before letting sleep take her, arms wrapped protectively around the little girl who Rose had grown to love just as surely as she had fallen for her father.

The Doctor spent the night sitting against the wall in the corridor, Rose's words ringing in his ears. He was somehow managing to push Rose away, just when it seemed like they could be together at last. The two most precious people in his life were right there inside that room, and at that moment he did not feel he deserved to know either one of them. He did not sleep that night. He did, however, cry.


	12. Chapter 12

**First chapter after my holiday. Sorry about the two week hiatus, the chapters should be a lot more regular now. Hope you like this one.**

Rose awoke slowly, reluctant to leave the warm, comfortable haze that sleep had brought her. Unfortunately, it was during those first, sleepy moments after waking up that she remembered she had not been the only person sleeping in her bed that night.

She sat bolt upright, bleary eyes peering around the room, and even though had had some small experience with young children, what with having a little brother in the other universe, the only thought spinning around Rose's slow, fuzzy brain was "Oh god I've squashed her, oh god I've squashed her, how am I going to tell the Doctor I've squashed her?!"

After a few moments of frantic panic, Rose became aware of a lump under the duvet next to her that was giggling. She pulled back the covers, and there was Jenny, crouched in a ball and laughing her little blonde head off.

"You scared me so much," Rose said, not really cross. She put a hand on her chest and felt the fluttering of her heart slow down, the beats becoming regular again. Glancing at the clock that was set to London time on her bedside table – not that it ever did much good – Rose saw that she had only been asleep for about six hours. Travelling with the Doctor, and then working at Torchwood in order to find him again, had gotten her used to slightly irregular sleeping patterns, and so she thought nothing of getting up now and keeping an eye on Jenny. She would have her lie in tomorrow, when she wasn't afraid of rolling over and crushing a small child as she slept.

As she watched Jenny toddle around on the bed, trying and failing to negotiate the springy terrain of the mattress and falling on her face more often than not, Rose wondered at the Doctor trusting her enough to look after his daughter. Of course he trusted her – they had saved the world enough times – but him actually not minding that Jenny had come to comfort her and stay with her, that struck Rose as something new and quite exciting.

There was a soft knock on the door. Rose didn't even need to wonder who it was – there was only one other person on the ship – and she sat up a little straighter and smoothed her hair and cleared her throat before answering. "Come in."

The Doctor peeked his head around her door, the rest of him following shortly. He was in his suit trousers but had ditched his jacket. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to the elbows, his tie was loose and he wasn't wearing his converse. His toes wriggled nervously on the carpet and Rose was struggling to remember whether or not she had ever found forearms a particularly attractive body part. Whatever her past thoughts on this issue, she was definitely finding them attractive now. The Doctor looked dishevelled and apprehensive and gorgeous, and Rose would probably have reacted much more warmly towards the sight of him at her bedroom door had she not still been more than a bit angry with him.

"You haven't seen my infamous offspring, have you?" Rose could tell by the tone of his voice that he knew exactly where Jenny was. As he stood there looking over at Jenny, who was sitting on the bed and laughing at him, the memory of him fleeing from her door last night came floating back. Had he heard all she had said to his daughter? Rose shrugged – a mental shrug rather than a physical one, not wanting the Doctor to read her body language. Let him hear. He deserved to know what she thought of him.

"There you are." He strolled over and looked down at Jenny with his hands on his hips. "What did I tell you? The first thing I said when we came in here – don't wander off." Jenny grabbed onto his suit with both hands and pulled herself into a standing position. "Clearly you've been taking lessons from Rose on that one," he grumbled, but the grumbling was good natured, and he flashed Rose a grin. She could tell that he was testing the water, trying to gauge her mood and how he should act around her.

Wanting to forgive him, but knowing that just letting him off the hook would get them nowhere, Rose was silent.

She maintained her silence when the Doctor left to get Jenny dressed, pulling on her own clothes and getting herself ready for the day ahead, whatever they might be doing. Hearing movement behind her, Rose turned to see that the Doctor had returned without Jenny. He was still just in his shirt and trousers – for him that was practically naked – and Rose could sense that he knew he should say something, though he didn't seem to be able to make up his mind what that something should be.

"She's playing in her room," he said finally, gesturing jerkily towards the door with his right hand, "thanks for looking after her last night."

"No problem," Rose replied, her voice almost monosyllabic, "she was looking after me, really."

"I might've thought she would be scared wandering to find you at night on her own, but she doesn't really seem to be scared of anything just yet."

"No," Rose agreed, still not meeting his eyes. "Although..."

The Doctor frowned. "What?"

Rose quickly decided to tell him what had happened – quite apart from anything else, her speaking filled the silence that hung in the air between them quite nicely.

_It had happened a couple of days ago, before she and the Doctor had run into this patch of trouble they were currently in, and they had been in the library. The Doctor had just nipped off for a minute – it was his turn to make the tea – and Rose was perusing some of the books that filled the shelves nearest to her favourite leather settee. Jenny, as was her new habit, was copying what Rose was doing. She could only reach the books on the lowest shelf, but she trailed her tiny fingers along them and seemed to enjoy the thunking sound that she could made if she hit the heavy leather bindings just right. Once she had figured out she could pull some of the volumes off the shelves if she yanked them hard enough, it seemed as though she had discovered her new favourite game. Rose was just reaching up to a higher shelf when she heard a small thump followed by a forlorn wail. Thinking that Jenny had perhaps hurt herself, Rose rushed over immediately._

_Jenny was pointing with one finger at the book that seemed to have fallen from the second shelf up – presumably had gotten confident with her skills at book removal and had decided to take it to the next level, quite literally. She did not seem to be hurt, but she was still crying, face screwed up in fear and slowly turning red. She was now flapping her hands at the book, and Rose quickly looked down at the page it was open on. _

_There, opposite a page of thick text that was almost illegible, it was so small, was a picture of a Dalek. It was a technical drawing –the book seemed to be detailing the Dalek's armour and weaponry. Jenny tottered a little on unsteady legs, giving the book a wide berth as she ran over to Rose and hid behind one of her legs. Little hands grabbed her jeans and refused to let go._

_Rose made comforting noises and swiftly slid the book back into its place on the shelf. She picked up Jenny and held her tightly until the sobs turned to hiccups, and the hiccups turning to snuffling and eye rubbing. Why on earth had Jenny been so scared of that Dalek? Yes, Daleks were terrifying, but Jenny had never been in any contact with them, and it had only been a picture. It could have been some sort of Time Lord instinct, but Rose wasn't sure that it worked like that. _

_After not very long Jenny was back to normal, and when the Doctor came rushing in with tea and biscuits and an exciting idea for a planet they could visit, the incident had been shoved rudely to the back of Rose's mind._

The Doctor was pulling on his ear thoughtfully as Rose's explanation came to an end. Normally she would have warned him that his ears were going to get even wonkier if he kept doing that, but as it was she remained silent. "That's very strange. I don't understand where she could have got that from."

"Neither do I. Unless..." A memory came back to Rose, a face distorted in pain and anger and suffering, blue eyes full of grief, staring her down as she stood between him and the monster that had destroyed his people. "Has she ever been with you when you've seen a picture of a Dalek?"

He thought for a moment. "I might've been looking up some stuff in the console room one time. She was sitting on the console with me. Why?"

"Well, what I mean is..." Rose closed her eyes for a second, trying to sort her thoughts out so she could explain adequately. "Say you have one person who is the person you trust, who cares for you and looks after you and loves you more than anything in the world. Then you see them looking at something – just a picture of something that doesn't really make sense to you at all. But that person – they're looking at the picture with such an expression on their face, fear and anger and grief. It's their oldest enemy and it destroyed their entire species. I've seen your face when you see Daleks, Doctor. To be honest, sometimes it's almost scary. If Jenny saw you looking like that at a Dalek, is there any wonder that she thinks they might be frightening? After all, she adores you more than anything in the universe. If you react like that, she probably thinks you've got good reason to."

The Doctor was looking at Rose in shock, mouth slightly open. This must have been a revelation for him, and for a few moments he seemed to be lost in thought.

"I... I never really considered that."

"You're getting slow," Rose stated, not sure whether she had been attempting humour or had simply been looking for something else to say. Whatever her reasons, the Doctor did not respond, and they were once more plunged into the quagmire of awkward silence.

Finally, after what seemed like an age, the Doctor began to speak. He was rubbing one of his still bare feet on the carpet, but he was at least brave enough to look her in the eye. "Rose," he said quietly, and the sadness and pain in his voice made Rose bite her lip, "I am so sorry."

He reached his arms out towards her hesitantly, then pulled away slightly, as though unsure of how she was going to react.

She wanted to stay mad at him. She wanted to keep her dignity and stay aloof and cold and distant, to pay him back for his foolishness and selfishness and idiocy. She wanted all those things. The truth was, however, that at that moment Rose wanted to hug him more than she could ever want to do anything else. So when she stepped slowly up to him and, almost hesitantly, wrapped her arms around his waist, she felt quite calm and satisfied with her decision. One night of moping and guilt might not be quite enough for him to see the error of his actions. Just because she was hugging him did not mean she was forgiving him, and Rose told him as much.

"Just so you know, I'm still not forgiving you," she said, in a voice that wasn't quite as clear she would have liked.

"I know. I haven't forgiven me either." His arms were wrapped snugly around her, and he was cradling her head and stroking her hair with one of them. It was very calming, and Rose could feel a drowsiness drifting at the edges of her consciousness, a reminder of the tiring day she had had yesterday and the hours of sleep she had lost being awake to make sure she had not crushed Jenny flat while she slept.

"When will you bloody learn?" she said, still feeling disgruntled. "You can't just shove me in this box and expect me to sit quietly waiting for you."

She felt him tense. "I know, I know. Just... we'll talk about it later, OK? Just give it a minute. I didn't know what had happened to you last night, and then not being able to hug you when you finally got back and I knew you were safe... that was torture. And I've actually been tortured – I know."

Rose smiled a bit and clutched him tighter. Only the Doctor could win her over by making jokes about himself being tortured.

He pulled back and looked at her face, eyes flickering around but undeniably focussing on her lips. He was cradling her head in his hands, stroking her cheek with his thumb. Rose let her eyes shut, and with them she shut out all of the happenings of the last day or so, any doubts or reservations or reasons why this might be a bad idea. She let herself be governed purely by sensation, and once she had allowed herself this lapse in control, her lips were pressed to the Doctor's faster than she could remember putting them there.

Kissing the Doctor was like nothing on earth. He bottled up all of his emotions and feelings when they talked, not feeling as though he deserved the sort of love that Rose felt for him, but when they kissed he poured all his feelings out. He held her like he wanted her more than anything else in the universe – and he had actually seen most of it.

Without her even telling them to, her hands slipped down to the buttons on his shirt. He made a delightful moaning sound into her mouth as her tongue danced with his, and she felt his hands slide under her t-shirt, stroking the skin of her back. She had kissed him before a few times, though she had not been in control of her body for one of them, but none of those kisses had been leading somewhere as much as this one was. All she could focus on was the way he smelled and the feel of his hair as it slid through the fingers of her left hand, the right still busy with his shirt buttons.

And then suddenly, right smack bang in the middle of that fantastic kiss, Rose remembered everything – her doubts and her wishes to take things slow, what Martha had said to her, what the Doctor had done the previous day, the fact that they hadn't even talked about this yet. Now they were moving towards something very very fast and if she was going to stop it then now might be the only time. If she left it too much longer she knew that the will to take anything slowly would evaporate in a flash.

With some reluctance, Rose placed her hands on the Doctor's shoulders and pushed firmly, separating them in one smooth movement. Keeping her hands there for the moment helped her to maintain a little distance, but as they both caught their breath Rose found she needed more space. A couple of quick backward steps put enough space between them for her to think.

"Just... just give it a minute," she said. "I've got to think about this. I need... I want..."

The Doctor was looking at her, worry etched in his face and trepidation in every line of his body. "What do you want, Rose?"

The silence that followed was heavy, and Rose steeled herself to say what she wanted from him at this moment, hoping it wouldn't hurt him.

"I want to see Jack."

Another pause. Rose could practically track the movement of her words through the air between them, watching as each one made an impact on the Doctor. He struggled for a second, she could tell, his mouth opening slightly before snapping shut. He blinked hurriedly after that; apparently back to his old self.

"Righty-ho, Jack it is, then. Haven't seen him in a while. I'll set the date not too long after we saw Martha, is that OK?"

Rose nodded, and the Doctor gave her a smile before bounding cheerfully out of the room. The smile had not reached his eyes.

Only then, on reflection, did Rose realise how her breaking off a kiss with the Doctor and asking to go and see Jack might have come across. Despite the Doctor's bravado and arrogance about most things, this type of relationship – whatever it was – was clearly not a very common occurrence for him, and the rejection that she had just given him must have stung. There was enough resentment left over from last night that she felt a tiny stab of pleasure at him being put through a little of what she had gone through, but as soon as that feeling faded away it was replaced by guilt and worry. She realised now that, when it came to the Doctor, she had to be reasonably explicit regarding what she felt for him. He was not that experienced at this (sex: possibly, she had never asked him outright. Relationships: not really very experienced at all. Sometimes Rose felt like she needed to write it all down in a handbook for handling the Doctor), it was as though she were his first girlfriend or something. At least, the first one for a few centuries. And did the Doctor really have "girlfriends"? To top off all of these hurt feelings and things left unsaid, she had suddenly suggested going to see Jack. The Doctor was probably over-thinking everything they had said to each other even as the thought occurred to her.

Now that he had left with barely a word on the subject, Rose was standing alone in her bedroom, wondering whether she had unintentionally set their relationship back farther than she had anticipated regarding the events of last night. She sniffed, rubbing her nose thoughtfully, before fisting her hands in her hair and sighing irritably. Why did everything have to be so complicated?

Rose squared her shoulders and marched stiffly down the corridor towards the console room. She needed advice and help and just someone to talk to who wasn't emotionally repressed and in way over his head. Jack would be able to shed some light. She knew he cared about her and the Doctor enough to be brutally honest.

As she finally made her way into the console room and saw the Doctor hastily plaster a smile over his pained face, looking at her with guarded eyes, it struck Rose that brutal honesty was probably the best course of action wherever the Doctor was concerned. Even if they were almost constantly in ridiculous arguments and screaming their heads off at each other, it had to be better than this.


	13. Chapter 13

**This one's slightly shorter, but there's a very long one between Jack and Rose coming up, so do not fret. **

The Doctor felt absolutely wrung out. A night of tinkering on the TARDIS with Rose's words rolling around inside his brain had not been very good for his mental wellbeing. He possibly could have used the time more constructively, maybe actually decided what he was going to say to Rose rather than moping around and stressing himself out about it. Once the TARDIS had informed him that Rose was awake, he strolled along the corridor to her room. The last time he had talked to her, she had been utterly cold and unreachable due to the argument they had just had, and although he had been utterly furious at the time, that anger had ebbed away faster than he would have believed possible.

And then, of course, there had been the conversation between Rose and Jenny last night. Well, conversation was probably a bit of a strong word for it, considering the fact that Jenny had said about three words, but what Rose had said to her had been enlightening to say the least. His emotions had taken over a bit at that point, and he scrubbed at his eyes as he made his way to Rose's room, despite logic telling him that, after 6 or so hours, there couldn't be any traces of the fact that he had been crying left on his face.

He had not cried in a long time, and he didn't want to remind Rose of the last time she might have seen him with tears in his eyes – he still had nightmares about it sometimes, in the rare moments when he slept. Rose's face contorted with grief and his own tears threatening to fall and the fact that he could not even reach out and touch her.

The Doctor managed to make some normal conversation, even if Rose was still distant with him. He did deserve it, he knew, and he was glad that Jenny had gone to see her last night, even if it had caused him a moment of panic when he checked on her and realised that she wasn't there. Rose had received some comfort while she felt so upset, though it hadn't been from him. He apologised to her, and he meant is so sincerely that the hug that followed felt as if he could finally breathe again. Having Rose back in his arms felt wondrous.

The kissing, however, was not something he had planned on doing.

They were taking things slow, like they had agreed to, and yet all of a sudden things were moving quickly to that place beyond kissing where he had so often longed to go with Rose.

When she had pulled away and asked to go and see Jack, he had felt so rejected it was as if a hole had been punched right through his stomach, leaving a load of empty space where his internal organs should have been. He didn't want to admit to himself how hard it was to be open with Rose and to let this thing with her go further, and when she had abruptly stopped what had been going on between them like that, it hurt him more than he would ever have thought.

The Doctor pushed and pulled the controls on the console with more force than was necessary, trying not to overthink things. As usual, he did nothing but overthink every word of his exchanges with Rose over the last 24 hours, getting so caught up in his thoughts that he almost didn't notice Rose's entrance into the console room. He kept his face carefully blank, not letting any emotion show in his eyes, as he normally would have when he saw her. It was difficult, and he was certain he looked cold and unfriendly, but it had to be better this way than the alternative.

They stepped out of the TARDIS into a room that Rose assumed was the Torchwood Hub, though she had never actually been there. The Torchwood in Pete's World had been located in Canary Wharf, once it had been rebuilt by Pete and Mickey, and had never been relocated to Cardiff in the first place. At first glance it seemed deserted.

"Rose!" came Jack's yell from behind them. Rose found herself scooped up in an enormous hug and lifted off her feet. She laughed at the feeling of it, and was rewarded with a chuckle from Jack, who seemed absolutely overjoyed. He was beaming, and it was only after he had given the Doctor the same treatment he had given Rose that he seemed to register the presence of someone else in the Doctor's arms.

"I take it this is Jenny, then? Martha told me," he explained in response to Rose's quizzical look.

"Yep, this is her." The Doctor held his daughter comfortably, her weight resting on his hip as she looked around curiously. "Jenny, I know you've got a lot of important things to remember, but this is Jack. He's mine and Rose's friend, so you've got to be nice to him."

"Hey Jenny," said Jack, "luckily you don't seem to have inherited any of your dad's looks from when I first met him – those ears would have looked ridiculous on you." Rose had to laugh, and the Doctor grinned as well.

"I liked those ears," Rose had to add, and the Doctor gave her a slightly amused look that seemed to indicate that this pleased him.

"D'you wanna say hi to Jack?" the Doctor asked his daughter.

"No way," said Jenny.

Rose found it very hard to regain control after that. Jenny's latest accomplishment – if it could be called that – had led her to pick up this phrase from somewhere. Rose blamed the Doctor, the Doctor blamed Rose, and the TARDIS seemed faintly amused by the whole thing. It certainly amused Rose no end to hear Jenny, on being asked any question under the sun, always replying with this same two word phrase. She even used it when she meant to say yes to something, the novelty of it was so great.

Jenny giggled and clapped her hands at the reaction she had gotten from Rose and Jack at her use of her latest addition to her vocabulary. Of course, this was why she continued to do it, but the Doctor wasn't too fussed about it. "Oh go on, Jenny, say hello to Jack," the Doctor coaxed.

"No way."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Yes way." He plucked Jenny from the Doctor's arms and held her in front of him. She reached out her hands and grabbed his nose. "Does she always do this?"

Rose noded. "Yep. She's got this thing with noses."

"Always goes for the nose, that one," the Doctor chimed in, hands in his pockets.

Jack looked down at Jenny, who was now attempting to chew the collar of his coat (_Do children always like to chew things this much? _Rose wondered). "She's beautiful."

"Thankyou." The Doctor's expression was contented and soft as he regarded his little girl. Rose felt a pang inside her. After seeing him so lonely and so sad at times, the amount of love and happiness that this toddler had brought him was almost unbelievable. Rose looked at his eyes, shining with love, and recognised the look he sometimes had on his face when she caught him looking at her. There was the same tiny trace of awe in that expression, as though he couldn't quite believe he was lucky enough to be here with her. Rose bit her lip, a rush of emotion almost overcoming her. She loved him so much it almost hurt.

Jack seemed to have sensed that both Rose and the Doctor were slightly preoccupied with thoughts of something else.

"Cup of tea?" he asked them both cheerfully, blowing away the tension that had settled in the air. "I know how much you two enjoy a cup of tea."

Rose grinned at him. "Tea would be fantastic."

"Agreed," said the Doctor. Jack went over to the kitchen area and began to make the tea, bringing over two mugs when he was done and telling the Doctor and Rose about the clean-up of the aftermath of the Dalek attack last year.

In the middle of this everyday, mundane activity, the entire room shook. Rose's head snapped up, shocked, and she saw Jack looking concerned.

"I was just trying to figure this out, Doctor. Something's happening with the rift – some sort of disturbance, causing tremors. Definitely needs to be fixed before anyone starts to look into what might be causing it."

The Doctor shoved his glasses onto his face and peered at some of the read-outs on the screens around him. Rose looked over his shoulder while keeping an eye on Jenny, who was sitting on an office chair and being spun around by Jack, who was dividing his attention between the toddler and her father.

For a few minutes the Doctor punched some keys and made some calculations, while Rose told Jack about some of the places they'd been to since he had last seen them. For him it had been about a year since they had dropped him off in the TARDIS, though it seemed his year had been reasonably uneventful.

"Aha!" the Doctor cried, pointing an accusing finger at one computer screen as if to say "Gotcha!"

"What?" Rose asked. She might have been quite well versed in alien technology and dimension jumping, but whatever the Doctor was doing here was beyond her. Just trying to figure out what all the equations the Doctor had been scribbling down meant was making her head ache slightly.

"It's the rift. A tiny fissure has opened up – not enough to let anything travel through it, but enough that the sort of background radiation the rift gives off is building up and trying to get through. It's not dangerous or anything, but it's a bit of a nuisance all the same. It's sort of like a bottleneck. When the energy builds up enough to force its way out, it barges through the rift and shakes the ground, causing the tremors. It's not really shaking the ground so much as shaking the fabric of time and space, but we can overlook that. It should pull back together on its own eventually, but I think I can speed it along it you give me a tick."

He began to bound about the room, picking through the bits of equipment that were scattered around the place. "I've been looking at those tremors for a week," Jack muttered to Rose, ruefully, "he turns up and solves the problem in 30 seconds. It's enough to bruise your ego."

"Don't worry about it, he's ahead at this sort of stuff but he's painfully behind the human race when it comes to other things." Jack evidently detected the bitterness in her voice, because he looked at her curiously. However, he did not get a chance to try and press her for more information before the next tremor arrived.

The ground shook again, much more violently, the deep, groaning sound growing louder and louder. This was something different, and Rose just had time to see the Doctor snatch up Jenny from her chair and yell "Get to the TARDIS-" before there was a crunching noise and she felt herself falling backwards and down, away from the Doctor, who was looking on in terror from a piece of the floor that had not chosen that moment to cave in. Jack was next to her, and she was aware of his arms flailing as he attempted to find purchase on something as he fell, but Rose's attention was mostly focussed on the Doctor and the expression on his face. The feeling of falling away from him as he looked on in terror was all too familiar to Rose, and she found herself yelling, arms reaching out towards him as rubble and concrete struck her from all sides and her vision went black.


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry to leave you all in suspense for so long. A couple of people were worried that it would be some type of Doomsday situation, with parallel universes and such. I know I can be cruel with cliffhangers sometimes, but I could never put the Doctor and Rose through all that again. Enjoy.**

Rose felt her eyelids flutter, but actually opening them seemed to be too much effort that this moment. She groaned instead, the sound breaking off into a squeak when she moved her head and felt a throbbing pain on one side of it.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty," said a familiar voice to one side of her, "you've been out for long enough, now you've got to keep me company. It is so boring down here."

When she finally wrenched her eyes open, it was dark. As she adjusted to the lack of light, Rose pushed herself up onto her elbows, feeling points of pain all over her body.

"Are you alright?" Jack asked her, concern in his voice as he helped her to sit up.

"Depends what you mean by alright," Rose answered. "I'm bumped and bruised all over, my head hurts like hell, I have no idea where I am and by the looks of it, wherever it is, we're stuck here. Apart from all that I'm just dandy, thanks."

Jack's teeth were bright in the darkness as he grinned. "Well at least you're well enough to be grumpy with me."

Rose smiled a little and got to her feet, Jack helping to prop her up as she felt a sharp pain go through her ankle – "I don't think it's broken," Jack told her, "we'll get the Doctor to fix you up once we get out of here."

"Where are we?"

"Basement," Jack said grimly, "that last tremor was a bit more of a mild earthquake, hence why we're now down here. And if you'll look behind you, you can see the reason why we're still in the basement as opposed to up there with the Doctor."

Rose turned around to a sight she thought she would never see outside of films where people got trapped in caves. Rubble, chunks of concrete and pieces of Torchwood equipment were piled up behind her from floor to ceiling, explaining both the lack of light and the lack of escape in one move. "And I suppose there's not enough room for the TARDIS to materialise in here?" Rose looked around them at the extremely enclosed space they were stuck in. The ceiling was quite low, and there were enough old crates and big metal instruments lining the walls to stop the TARDIS being able to find a clear place to land.

"Correct." Jack rubbed his eyes. "We can't even climb out of the hole – it's on the other side of that wall of stuff behind us."

"It's a good thing we weren't under that when it fell," Rose mused, her heart beating a bit faster as the image of what might have befallen her had she been trapped under there flashed into her mind.

Jack smiled. "You weren't, you mean. I sort of was. Only a little bit, managed to drag you out of the way."

Rose was stunned. "You mean you... died?"

"Yep." He was so matter-of-fact about it. "Still, like I always say – if someone's gotta die, it might as well be me."

"Thanks, Jack." She hugged him and he returned the favour. She was grateful for how warm he was – it was extremely cold in this little basement room.

"So I'm guessing we're relying on the Doctor to get us out of here then?" Rose shifted, her ankle throbbing. She didn't want to just be sitting here doing nothing, but on the other hand there was really nothing to be done right now.

"Yep, we'll just have to wait here till he gets us out." Jack flopped down on the floor, indicating that Rose should join him. "Won't take him more than an hour to get the equipment together I imagine. At least it gives us a chance to catch up."

"Yeah, I guess it does." Rose slumped down beside Jack. Now that she was here with just Jack, Rose could feel the stress and the worry and the exhaustion that being on edge with the Doctor had brought on, and she was suddenly very close to tears. When she didn't say anything for a while Jack looked at her.

"Rose, are you OK?"

She nodded, trying for a smile but, as always, someone being nice to her when she was sad had tipped her over the edge, and a big fat tear went rolling down her cheek.

"Rose, what's wrong?" The tears were soon followed by sobs, and Jack quickly wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly. "Hey, it's OK, it's alright, we'll sort it out." Rose's breathing slowed, the sobs becoming less frequent. It was as though she had just needed to cry for a few minutes. Rose's head felt clearer, and she didn't feel anywhere near as wrung out or upset as she had done a little while ago.

"Since you were acting all happy and perfectly fine in front of the Doctor, I'm guessing this is something to do with him?"

Rose nodded, pulling away from Jack and wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "Yeah, definitely. Wow, I think I needed that. Apart from the Doctor's, there's no shoulders to cry on in the TARDIS. I just... I thought it would be easier than this. Not easy, but easier. You know, you decide to take it slow and then you end up at each other's throats and you don't know how you got there."

"Ah, trouble in paradise." Rose shot him a withering glance and he put up his hands. "OK, OK, not ready for joking yet. Come on then, spill. I could use some gossip, and yours and his is the best."

Rose took a deep breath, smoothing her hair back behind her ears and trying to figure out where to start. "Well, basically, it started off well, then in the past couple of days everything's gone to hell."

Jack nodded. "Good start, intriguing, I like it. Continue."

Rose struggled to find the right words to explain it. "It's just different to how I thought it would be." Jack nodded again, eyes focussed on her completely. "Now... well it's not exactly my family, but the Doctor and Jenny are one and I sort of want to be in it, you know."

"Of course." Jack placed a hand on hers and Rose gripped it tight. Jack always understood her.

"I keep saying it to everyone, but I don't know how to deal with it." She was looking at her knees now, willing herself not to start crying again. "It's not his fault – he's been wonderful. We've always been nearly together but not quite there, me and the Doctor – you know us, you know how it is – so there's that as well." Jack nodded again. "I was just getting used to it all, nearly ready to start thinking about moving forward with him, but then he just began acting all weird. He's started leaving me behind again." Jack's eyebrows shifted a significant amount towards his hairline. "Yeah, I know. He sent me back to the TARDIS with Jenny while he ran off to do something stupid or brave or whatever. The first time I just ignored it, but the second time I told him what I thought of him. It was the biggest fight we've ever had. I just don't know what to do with him anymore. Since then we've barely spoken and he's trying to act normal but... it's awful."

Jack appeared to be contemplating her words very deeply. Rose was so glad she could say all of this to him. If there was one person she trusted more than anyone to give her advice about her and the Doctor, it was Jack. He cared so much about both of them, Rose knew he would help them in any way he could.

"OK Rose, here's my question: do you love him?"

"Yes." No hesitation whatsoever.

"Do you want to be with him? Officially, properly, a couple, whatever you want to call it."

"Yes, I do."

"Are you ever going to want to leave him – be with anyone else and live life on Earth?"

Rose gave this question some thought. The truth of the answer she gave Jack was so undeniable that she was almost shocked by her own conviction. "Never. Forever was what I told him and I meant it."

"And Jenny?"

"She's wonderful. I mean, I really do love her – she's just like the Doctor, she just gets into all sorts of trouble but then she looks at you with those massive eyes and you just have to forgive her. And she throws mashed banana at him and it gets in his hair. She knows how to push all his buttons; she's got him wrapped around her little finger. They're so cute, the other day he wrapped her up in his coat because she wanted to try it on and she—"

Jack looked so amused Rose was almost cross that he was laughing at her. "I'll take that as a yes then," he smirked, "you sound almost as in love with her as the Doctor is." When all Rose gave him in reply was a shrug, Jack continued. "Rose, if you love him as much as I know you do, then you've got to sort this out now. I know – and the Doctor knows too – how hard it can be to never grow older and know that everyone you love will age and eventually die. It causes a lot of problems, and relationships are just about the biggest ones."

Rose bit her lip. "Sorry about that."

Jack smiled. "Wasn't your fault, don't worry about it. The point is, that now he actually seems to want that relationship, as opposed to before when it seemed like you were gonna keep dancing around the edge forever." Rose began to protest but Jack held up a hand. "Seriously Rose, I was there. The tension between you two was almost unbearable, and I am very experienced in this area, as you well know."

Rose nodded in agreement and smiled. "OK, OK."

"The Doctor will do anything he can to keep you in his life, I know it, and you know it too, but it's going to be extremely hard for him to get over the barriers he's got up. You have to talk to him and work through this together. I'm not trying to be melodramatic, Rose, but if you don't do this now, it will tear you two apart. And I don't want to have to see that happen to the pair of you. You want it to happen, so go for it. I'm sure Jenny would say the same thing if she were older or able to talk or had any concept of what's going on right now." Rose giggled. "And as for the leaving you behind thing, you've just got to tell him where to go. If he's so worried about the pair of you, then he'll have to take you places where there isn't any danger, especially for Jenny, at least for a while. He needs to be more careful."

Even in the state she was in, Rose was quick to defend him. "He was being very careful, for ages he was, but then he sort of started slacking. I think something changed after we went to see Martha. He might've been worried I was going to get bored and leave or something."

Jack laughed, throwing his head back, and Rose joined in though her laugh was somewhat more pathetic than his. "Sometimes that man is so dense, he can't seem to imagine what someone else might be feeling. Just tell him straight, drag the explanation out of him, and refuse to back down until he understands what you're saying."

"Already tried that," Rose said, glumly, "didn't really work out very well."

"What happened."

"I stormed out the TARDIS."

Jack whistled. "I bet he didn't like that."

"I'm not sure he did." Rose continued to think. "I know we need to talk about this, but we were trying to take it slow. I thought there'd be time for us to wait a while."

"Rose, you wait too long and you'll be set in your ways again. And besides, I would've thought you two would have settled it in the bedroom straight after you got back."

Rose's mouth popped open and she gave Jack a swift thwack on the arm. "Oi, you can't say that."

"Oh but I can," Jack grinned, "as well as being one of the only people who knows both of you well enough to judge your relationship, I also saw the looks you two were giving each other when we were on that Dalek spaceship. A bit of sex would probably have got rid of a lot of the tension, as well as removing some of those barriers we talked about."

Rose pretended to consider it. "Yeah... or it might've just made it 50 times more awkward and even more difficult to talk through than before."

"Possibly, but you can't deny you've been thinking about it." Rose opened her mouth to reply, then shut it again, rolling her eyes at Jack's triumphant look. "Ha, told you so. You know what, if you weren't overthinking this so much, and just acted on impulse a bit more, you two would've been over this hurdle weeks back. Sometimes you're as bad as he is."

Rose grabbed the front of Jack's shirt and pulled him close, trying to be threatening even while she was laughing. "You take that back."

Jack shook his head smugly. "Never. It's true."

"So that's your advice is it," Rose said somewhat glumly, "shag all our troubles away?"

"I think your paraphrasing a bit, but it couldn't hurt. Or if you want, maybe I could help with tha-"

"Oh shut up," Rose grinned, elbowing him again. Being with Jack made her feel younger – after all, it was years since they had spent any time together properly, back when the Doctor was much grumpier than he was now.

They spent a few more minutes just relaxing and chatting, and Rose felt lighter and much more free than she had done in a while. What Jack had said made so much sense, and while she and the Doctor had not exactly sorted out their problems, she now felt much more equipped to handle that moment when it eventually occurred.

In the middle of a conversation about Mickey and Martha, Rose became aware of a buzzing noise coming through the wall behind her. She turned around to see the wall of debris between them and their freedom beginning to shake slightly.

"This'll be him, then," Jack said, helping Rose to her feet and pulling them as far away from wall as possible. It wasn't a great distance.

The buzzing intensified, and all of a sudden a largeish hole appeared in the wall. The concrete that had been inside the hole just seemed to vanish, turning to dust as they watched. The hole looked big enough to slide through quite easily.

"You first," Jack told her, gesturing towards the hole with one hand, "there's someone on the other side who I'm guessing really really wants to make sure you're alright." She shot him a grateful look before going to the hole and heaving herself through, ignoring the protests of her battered body.

Rose popped out on the other side of the hole, almost falling flat on her face and brushing dust off of her clothes. On this side of the room – the much larger side, into which the TARDIS could have materialised quite easily, Rose noticed grumpily – there was light spilling down from the hole in the ceiling, illuminating the piles of rubble and the stairs in the corner that could lead them up and out. Rose was not thinking about climbing out yet, however, because standing in front of her, holding some sort of machine that was making a fizzing noise and completely covered in dust, was the Doctor.

The contraption he was holding fell to the floor with a clang, and Rose dashed forward to fling her arms around him, her hurt ankle slowing what would have been a run to a painful limp. He grabbed her, hugging her tightly and lifting her off her feet. He was grinning, but there was a certain tension hanging about him still that told her how worried he'd really been.

"Miss me?" Rose asked.

"Thought you might be dead," he replied, speaking into her hair. "So yeah, just a little bit."

She clutched him tighter. "Well I wasn't dead. Not going to be dead for a long time, either. Jack was though, apparently."

"Well if either of you were going to die, I'm definitely glad it was Jack. Sorry Jack."

"No big deal," said Jack as he extracted his leg from the hole in the rubble and stood up straight. "I'm sure if I weren't immortal you wouldn't say the same thing."

"Well," the Doctor began, but Rose pressed a finger to his lips before he could say anything more.

"Can we get out of here now please," she said, trying to make it sound like a casual request, though inside her all her instincts were telling her to get out of this dark little hole in the ground, back to the safety of the TARDIS where they belonged.

"Well you won't get upstairs easily on that ankle," the Doctor told her. "You want a lift?" Rose nodded, only realising now how much it hurt to put her weight on it.

The Doctor picked her up gently and began to ascend the staircase, taking care not to bump her ankle on the way up.

"Why don't I get any of that?" Jack grumbled as he followed them up to the brightly lit room where they had sat and chatted barely an hour before.

Rose looked back at him. "Buy me a drink first."

The Doctor laughed and laughed, and Rose knew the laughter wasn't just because of her joke. It was relief.


	15. Chapter 15

**This one took a while, but the next chapter's almost finished if that's any consolation. **

"It's all fixed, by the way," the Doctor said casually as he placed Rose down on the floor just next to the TARDIS. She surveyed the large hole in the floor and the rubble below, thinking that she would not have guessed how far down it was to the basement, had she not fallen down there an hour or so earlier. "That last quake was the fissure closing. I did some tests while I was charging that thing," – he nodded towards the device that had dissolved the concrete and gotten them out, which was still lying abandoned on the basement floor – "there shouldn't be any more tremors."

"Good to know," said Jack, looking down into the hole in the floor. "Now all I've got to do is sort this out. Care to help?"

Rose shook her head. "No way." She glanced at the Doctor. "You could always come with us for a bit if you want, Jack. Let someone else sort this out."

Now it was Jack's turn to shake his head. "Thanks but no thanks. I'm good here for the moment. And besides, it seems like you two would prefer to be alone together. Don't want me getting in the way." He gave the Doctor a significant look, and the Time Lord met his gaze for a second before looking away hurriedly.

They said their goodbyes, the Doctor disappearing into the TARDIS and leaving Rose to give Jack an enormous hug and say a proper goodbye. She turned and waved at him from the doorway before going in. She felt a pang at him not coming into the TARDIS with them, but he had been right about her and the Doctor being alone together. A couple of seconds after she had stepped inside, she had a Jenny wrapped around her leg – thankfully it was her uninjured one.

"Wose!"

"Hey you!" Rose said, leaning down to pick her up and give her a hug. "Oh I missed you down there."

Jenny hugged her back clumsily, little arms wrapping tightly around her neck. Rose caught sight of the Doctor looking at her from where he leant against the console, and suddenly felt very awkward. Her delight at seeing him again had made her temporarily forget the events of the past few days.

"You OK?" she asked him tentatively.

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm OK." He gave her a small smile, the sort that showed her much more of his underlying emotional state than any of his big, beaming grins ever could. She hoped he understood that she had needed to talk things through, and that Jack always gave the best advice. The Doctor had that enormous brain; surely he could work out her motivations without feeling jealous or hurt.

Whatever he was feeling, Rose decided that she couldn't deal with talking to him about it all now. She would have a relax and then probably get some sleep, and talk to him about it another day.

"I might have a sit down in the library," she said to the Doctor over Jenny's shoulder, "join me?"

He nodded, almost turning towards the console before looking back at her. He stepped swiftly over and enfolded Rose in his arms, wrapping her and Jenny up in a close embrace. They stood still for a moment, Rose enjoying the warmth and comfort the Doctor provided. Then next to her ear, she heard him say: "Of course – but you might want me to look at that ankle first."

Rose sighed, suddenly remembering that she was injured. The memory of the incident returned, along with the pain, and she gasped and took the weight off of her ankle."I forgot," she said quietly.

"Thought so." The Doctor finally released her, to her disappointment, stroking Jenny's hair as she continued to snuggle into Rose's shoulder. "Think you can make it to the medical room? Or do you need me to impress you with my muscles as I carry you there without even trying?" He was grinning widely now.

"You're not that impressive," Rose said, as seriously as she could without laughing.

He pouted for a moment but let it go, taking Jenny from her and offering her his arm. "Well then, at least I can escort you there."

She grinned and looped her arm through his. "Why thank you, Sir Doctor."

"My pleasure, Dame Rose," he said with what Rose would have definitely called a giggle. Jenny made a burbling noise of displeasure and the Doctor bounced her, peering into her scowling face. "Alright then, you can be a Baron or something. Lord Jenny, how does that sound?" She continued to frown, turning her face away from him. "She's tired," the Doctor explained, leading Rose slowly down the corridor as she limped forward, determined not to give in and let him carry her. Her ankle was hurting a lot more than she had anticipated. "She could barely stop moving all the time you were stuck down there, and she would have needed a nap at about this point anyway. You wait, she'll be out like a light any second now."

The Doctor healed Rose's ankle – "Almost broken but not quite – jeopardy friendly indeed." – and most of her larger cuts and bruises. Rose couldn't be bothered to let him fix up every single one of her injuries, and fidgeted throughout the process before impatiently grabbing the Doctor's hand and dragging him out of the medical room.

Now they sat side by side on one of the comfy leather sofas in the library. Jenny was lying on the armchair opposite them,fast asleep and drooling onto the leather cushion beneath her.

Warm and contented, so much so that even the pain of the past few days and the things left unsaid by her and the Doctor did not seem important, Rose leaned against the Doctor's shoulder and felt her entire body relaxing into the cushions. One thing, however, remained on her mind, and as she contemplated their clasped hands she decided just to ask him about it. She was sick of neither of them ever saying what they wanted.

"Doctor, can I ask you something?"

"Mm-hmm?" he replied distractedly.

"Before – ages ago, really – when we met Sarah-Jane that time... why did you bring Mickey with us?"

That caught his attention. He looked up at her, a frown on his face. "What do you mean?"

Rose shrugged. "Dunno, just thinking – it was something that Jack said, 'bout us being on our own together. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad Mickey was here in the long run, but do you remember when we were in the console room and he asked to come with us?" The Doctor nodded slowly, and Rose could see realisation growing in his eyes as he began to understand where she was headed. "Well I mouthed "no" to you, and I know you saw me do it, but you invited him on board anyway. I'm not saying you should do everything I want you to, but I just wondered why, that's all."

He furrowed his brow in thought for a few seconds before he answered. "There were a few different reasons for it. D'you want the list?"

"Yes please," Rose said, sitting sideways on the settee and crossing her legs – her ankle had ceased hurting a few minutes ago thanks to the Doctor's treatment - so she could look at him properly as he talked. He turned to face her too, one leg bent in front of him and his arm resting on the back of the sofa.

"Reason one – and I know it sounds obvious – but he wanted to come and I thought he deserved it. I asked him to once before, did he ever tell you that?" Rose was shocked.

"No, no he didn't."

The Doctor smiled. "I thought not. I was right after we got rid of those Slitheen, the first time, and you were just getting your things. I was talking to him outside the TARDIS, and I offered him the chance to come. Well, he had saved the world, it only seemed fair. But he didn't want to. Said he couldn't deal with it, and he asked me not to tell you." Rose raised an eyebrow, and the Doctor grinned sheepishly. "Well, I figured he's proven himself capable enough of dealing with it now, so he wouldn't mind you knowing. But anyway, when he asked that time, I just thought that I owed it to him, really. I am capable of being nice to people, you know."

"Fair enough. That sounds just about plausible. What about your other reasons?"

There was a longer pause this time, as though he were trying to work out how to phrase what he wanted to say correctly.

"Part of me thought that you could use a friend on the TARDIS sometimes – you know, someone who wasn't me." Rose rolled her eyes. "Yeah, thought that would be your reaction to that one. Still, that was only a tiny bit of it. The rest of it was... I think I wanted someone there to get between us a bit."

Rose knew her expression was hurt, but she couldn't hide her feelings from him any more. "What the actual hell?" she blurted out, any knowledge of English grammar going out the window. "And here I was, worried that I was selfish for thinking that Mickey would get between us if he came on board, which he didn't really, when all the time that was your intention?"

"If I might be allowed to explain myself?" the Doctor ventured. Rose looked at him with narrowed eyes, before finally pursing her lips and nodding. "Thankyou. Now I need to ask you if you remember that day. Well, the night before. D'you remember the conversation we had in the street before that Krillitane swooped down on us."

"Of course," Rose said, "where you told me that I could spend the rest of my life with you, but you couldn't spend yours with me, that humans wither and die, all that jazz."

"Precisely." He tried a smile, but Rose wasn't ready for that yet. "Well, after that, and after talking to Sarah-Jane about what had happened to her, I could see how much pain I was causing you – how much I would cause you. So I thought that if Mickey were there, to sort of make it less intense between us, then it might make it easier for you not to feel sad that we couldn't have what everyone else does. And when you mouthed "no" at me, it only made me more sure that it shouldn't be just us two. The closer we got, the worse it was going to be in the end." He ran a hand through his hair, not quite meeting her eyes as he continued to the end of his explanation. "And of course it didn't work. Sure, he was there, but any closeness that evaporated between us was entirely my doing." He hung his head, and Rose knew immediately what it was he was referring to. "But anyway, after that time in the parallel world when Mickey left, I realised that there was no point in trying to delay the inevitable. I thought I was going to lose you that day - that you were going to choose to stay in that world, with Mickey and your dad. I knew it wasn't going to happen, not really, but it still scared me. And I realised that us being happy together was more important than the pain that would actually come at the end."

Here he paused – it wasn't a subject that either of them ever liked to bring up, the fact that Rose was going to die while the Doctor wouldn't even age.

"It did change after that," Rose remembered, "I thought it was just cause Mickey had left, but it wasn't, was it?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Nope. It was me just wanting to be happy for once, without worrying about what's going to follow."

Nodding, Rose let her focus drift as she thought about what the Doctor had just told her. He had been trying to minimise the heartbreak that was going to occur in the end. Well, it certainly hadn't worked. But it was so much deeper and more heartfelt than him simply wanting to push them apart, and she found she could not remain angry with him when she realised that he had been just and hurt and conflicted and confused as she had, without her even knowing it.

"Wow," Rose said finally, "and here I was thinking you were just going to say you thought it would be funny to watch Mickey blundering about in deep space."

The Doctor laughed. "That could have been a reason, but it wasn't. I thought it would be better – you know, for whatever reason – but I managed to make a mess out of things all by myself without Mickey giving me any help at all."

Rose looked down at her left knee, her hands gripping tightly onto her feet. There, cross-legged on the settee with a few inches between her and the Doctor, she could remember so clearly the betrayal she had felt during that first trip after they picked up Mickey. Despite all of the terrible, traumatising things that had happened to Rose since she met the Doctor, the period after that little adventure was one of the ones she liked to remember least. The tension in the TARDIS could have been cut with a knife, and sometimes Rose wanted to use a knife on the Doctor when she thought about how stupid he had been. The only thing that saved them was the Doctor's realisation of his own idiocy and selfishness.

They had managed to build up trust again, slowly but surely. Mickey acted as a bit of a bridge between them for a while, but before he left them to live in Pete's World everything was back to how it had always been between them. It helped Rose now to know that what had happened on that spaceship and in France was at least partly to do with him trying to put distance between himself and Rose, just as he had done when bringing Mickey on board.

Still, she didn't really want to relive any of that.

"S'okay," she said finally, "you mess things up a lot, but you always try to put them right." That comment came off rather more pointed that she had meant it to, and she hoped the Doctor didn't think she was trying to force him into a discussion about what they were going to do about their relationship (or lack thereof).

"Do I?" He sounded so utterly dejected that Rose risked a peek at him. He was staring at a point just over her left shoulder, not really focussing on anything. He appeared to come back to himself as she watched, looking into her eyes. "Rose, I need to-"

"No," Rose said firmly, watching his eyebrows crinkle in confusion. "I mean, not now." She leaned across and embraced him, snuggling into his side as best she could. "We can talk about it tomorrow – this is all I want right now." She wrapped her arms tighter around him and hummed in contentment to illustrate her point.

He made an indistinguishable grunt of disapproval. "Alright then, but you can't blame me for trying to wriggle out of meaningful discussion this time – this one is entirely your fault."

"Deal," she agreed, delighted at the fact that that he was now stroking her hair. Rose leaned up and pressed a light kiss to his jaw. She would never, ever get used to being like this with the Doctor. Not if she lived to be a thousand years old.

"Wanna go out again after Jenny's had her nap?" the Doctor asked casually after a few minutes. "I'm sure there are a few places in this big old universe we haven't found yet."

Rose twisted her ankle around, testing it for pain. A slight ache was the only indication there had been anything wrong with it. One look into the Doctor's eyes, sparkling with anticipation and the thrill of a new adventure, and all of the tiredness in Rose's limbs seemed to melt away.

"Sounds good."


	16. Chapter 16

**Just so you know, it might seem cute now, but it definitely gets worst before it gets better for these two. Not with all the arguing and everything, they've kind of done that already. But just so you're warned. And I'm so sorry. **

When they trooped back to the TARDIS that evening, Rose felt like she was chained to the floor. They had had some fun with anti-gravity that afternoon – Jenny had especially seemed to enjoy it – and now she was back down the ground, Rose felt heavy and dull. Still, it had been such a laugh, the Doctor's long limbs flailing around and Jenny giggling as Rose found herself upside down and could not figure out how to get back.

Rose went to the kitchen as the Doctor left to put Jenny to bed. She brought two steaming mugs of tea into the console room, and after a couple of minutes the Doctor reappeared with the news that Jenny was fast asleep.

"I think all that floating took it out of her, in about three seconds she was gone."

"I'm not surprised – it was difficult." Rose was grinning, and the Doctor smiled too, though there was something not quite right about it. Ignoring the unsettling feeling his eyes gave her, Rose began to laugh as she recalled the events of the day. "You were so rubbish, you kept hitting the walls!" She held onto the jump seat, giggling at the image of the Doctor wheeling about through the air with barely any control over his arms and legs. She would have thought that after over 900 years he would have developed some skill, but apparently not.

"Look, Rose." She turned to face him, laughter still present in her eyes and mouth, but he wasn't smiling. "I've just got to say this now... look, I know I was an idiot and I tried to keep you here in the TARDIS when you didn't want to be stuck here, and you know I'm sorry about that. But, I just want you to know that if you... if this isn't what you want in any way, then you only need to tell me and I'll take you wherever you want."

Rose was stunned. Absolutely and utterly stunned, to the point where she almost dropped her mug onto the floor. She quickly placed it on a relatively flat section of the console, out of harm's way. "You... you don't want me here?"

"No, no of course I do! You know that I want you here more than anything in the universe, it's just... you didn't sign up for this. You wanted me, you, forever, and I do too. You didn't sign up for this life – it's not going to be quite the same, not with Jenny around, and you came back here and separated yourself from your entire family just to be with me. I don't want you to feel obligated to stay here if this life isn't what you want."

He was worried that she wasn't happy. Rose shook her head. Sometimes it surprised her how perceptive he could be, how much he cared about her feelings and how little he actually said about them.

"Doctor, I'm not going to pretend I wasn't shocked when I found out about Jenny. And I'm not going to pretend that I've always felt good about it, because I haven't. And you were a complete idiot, just for the record. But I just..." She trailed off, not really knowing the right way to explain it to him. The Doctor waited patiently, though Rose could see the tension in his body, in the way his hands were clutching the TARDIS console much harder than normal.

"I want to be here. It might be a bit different, but I talked to Jack today, and apart from telling me that what we really needed to sort things out was a good shag," – the Doctor's eyebrows raised infinitesimally – "he made me realise that there is no place anywhere in the universe I would rather be than right here. Jenny or no Jenny, sex or no sex, adventure or slow path, leather jacket or brown suit, it just doesn't matter to me. There is no way in hell I am leaving. And, just for the record, I love Jenny almost as much as you do, and I couldn't leave her if I tried." The Doctor was looking so happy, but he wasn't smiling. It was a strange expression – no manic grin, but his eyes were radiating more joy that Rose could comprehend. "So, now I've established that, we've got some other things to work out."

"What things?" He looked confused now.

"Things like I am not being left behind any more – Donna was right, you need someone there with you if there's any danger, you're not going on your own again, I will not let you." The Doctor looked at her fondly, nodding his head for her to continue. "I don't mind going to places that are safe and not dangerous, at least for a while. If we need to do any universe saving, we can take Jenny to Martha or Sarah-Jane, just for a little while; I know the universe can't cope without you forever." He grinned at that.

"OK, I swear. We'll keep things simple and safe, no world saving unless childcare plans are in place. Gotcha."

Rose breathed out, shocked that he had finally agreed to that but pleased that she had got some sense into him. However, there was still more that needed to be taken care of. She took another deep breath, readying herself. This was the tricky bit.

"Another thing is about us - we can't have what we had before." His shoulders slumped and Rose hurried to qualify her statement before he got the wrong idea. "What I mean is, we are not staying where we were. Before we just sort of stayed where it was safe. Relationships have to grow and we can't just stay in this phase forever. You have to promise me that you won't hold back and keep me at arm's length for the rest of my life."

"I don't really keep you at arm's length, do I?" the Doctor replied flippantly, pulling her close and into a hug.

"Not physically," Rose said, voice muffled a little by the material of his suit, "but as far as feelings and relationships go you definitely do. You hide and you go running off and you leave me..." She stopped, taking in a deep, shaky breath and willing herself not to think of all those times she had felt lost. Things were different now. "I just need to know that you want me as much as I want you."

The Doctor took a deep breath, in and out, the smoothness of his breathing contrasting with the hammering of his hearts that Rose could feel through their clothing. "I do, Rose. I do, and I will try," he murmured at last, and she knew how hard it was for him to talk about this, never mind promising her something that he might never have thought he would do again. Just knowing that he was going to try made her feel so much better.

Rose had one more thing that she really needed to say. She pulled away from him – though every muscle in her body seemed to be screaming at her never to stop hugging him until her dying day – and made certain that he was entirely focussed on what she said.

"I don't care about anything else - I am _going _to stay forever."

The Doctor just looked at her – his eyes were so dark and his gaze seemed to hold her there, stretching that second out so it lasted for an eternity. "You'd better," he replied softly, and Rose was kissing him before she even registered what he'd said.

It appeared he had been ready for it, because there was no sense of a moment of shock before he began to kiss her back. It was smooth and easy as breathing in and out for them to do this. The Doctor had one hand on the side of her head, his thumb stroking her cheek as he brought his tongue into play. Rose moaned without meaning to and she felt his lips curl into a smile in response. Never one to go down without a fight, Rose anchored both of her hands in his hair (oh god she loved his hair) and scraped a bit with her nails, using her advantage to shift his head to a slightly better angle. He almost growled – Rose would have thought that him growling would make her giggle, but when it actually happened it only served to spur her on in her attempts to make him incapable of anything other than doing this, with her, forever.

The Doctor pulled back all of a sudden, leaving Rose with parted lips and half closed eyes and a head full of confusion. He took a couple of steps back, until they were once again not touching.

"We should go on a date."

Rose blinked. "You what?"

He nodded, seeming determined. "Me and you, we should go on a proper date. You know, flowers and a restaurant, and you can wear heels if you want 'cause we won't be getting chased by Slitheen or sentient rocks or anything like that." He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "It might help to, well, to transition, if we do the proper date thing like the humans tend to do it."

The Doctor's face was deliberately casual, but Rose could sense the trepidation he felt and the amount of courage that he had summoned up to be able to volunteer this idea.

A proper date with the Doctor – Rose had to say it was sounding very appealing. She took a few moments to really consider it before smiling. Of course there was only one answer she was going to give.

"Alright then – and you can wear heels as well, if you want, Doctor."

The Doctor grinned widely. "Don't think so, I'm already tall enough as it is." He drew himself up to his full height and stared down at her. "I'd have to crouch down to kiss you."

"On second thoughts, don't then," Rose replied. The fact that he was assuming there would definitely be more kissing put more of a spring in Rose's step than even the idea of the date had. "Shall we say tomorrow night, then – well, relative night, depending on where we are?"

"It's a date then."

"Yeah, it is," Rose said, and the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Careful, you might cut yourself on your razor sharp wit."

Rose flicked her hair. "I'll be careful, don't you worry about me." Despite her glee at the progression of events that day, Rose could suddenly feel how tired she was. She had been bumped and bruised a lot that morning, and even though the Doctor had healed most of her injuries, she felt as though she had been put into a cocktail shaker and shaken up until she was black and blue all over. "I'll be going to bed now then, Doctor."

"Night night, Rose," he said, glancing up from the screen he had been looking at and giving her a quick smile before returning his gaze to whatever it was that was so interesting.

She walked off down the corridor to her room, closing the door behind her and trying to summon up the energy to get ready for bed. It wasn't long before she heard a soft knock on the door. The Doctor pushed it open to reveal himself standing outside somewhat awkwardly, a small bundle under one arm.

"I thought that maybe I could... stay here tonight, I mean, if you want." He looked so cute, his lips slightly pursed and his eyebrows showing just the slightest hint of worry at him offering his company and being face with the possibility of being shot down. To be honest, Rose had been waiting for this since the first time the Doctor had shared her bed, weeks ago when she had just made it back to him. She nodded quickly, indicating that he should come in. He unbuttoned his jacket as he walked pulling it off and chucking it onto the chair in the corner of her room.

As he took off his tie, Rose was caught up thinking about other situations in which the Doctor might be undressing in her room.

The Doctor turned around and saw Rose grinning. "What?"

"Well, doesn't the sleeping together normally come _after _the date?" Rose asked, amused. She was even more amused as a faint blush crossed the Doctor's cheeks.

"Yeah, but that's sleeping together, not just sleeping in the same bed or... oh you know what I mean!" he gabbled before turning away from her and pulling off his shirt in one hurried move. Rose hid a grin as she grabbed her pyjamas and nipped into the bathroom. When she reappeared, all ready for bed, the Doctor was already sitting up under the covers, bare chested. He stuck out a foot in a playful attempt to trip her up as she walked around the bed, and Rose saw that he was wearing his striped pyjama bottoms, presumably the contents of the bundle he had brought with him. He really seemed to love clothes with stripes.

She peeled back the duvet and sat in the bed next to him. For a few moments they remained silent as the TARDIS turned down the lights to a suitable level for sleeping.

"Did you ever do that thing where you lie upside down in the bed and put your feet on the pillow?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"Yep," he answered, and she could tell his toes were wiggling from the movement of the duvet, "sometimes I think I do all my best figuring things out like that. Why do you ask?"

"Dunno." Rose sniffed. "Seemed like the sort of thing you would do."

The Doctor wriggled down until just his head was sticking out from under the covers. He looked up at her comically. "Are you joining me, or are you sleeping sitting up?"

Rose grinned and shifted until she was underneath the duvet almost completely. This time she only hesitated for a moment before sneaking an arm around his waist. Maybe it was the fact that he knew they were making progress, or maybe it was just that he'd give up trying to hold back, but the Doctor pulled her close to him immediately, without any appearance of trepidation or unease.

She snuggled into his side, sighing happily as she felt sleep beginning to drag her under. Having the Doctor there just felt so completely right, as though the bed should have come with a complementary Doctor attached in order to help her sleep better. It could have been so weird, finally and slowly changing the nature of their relationship, but curled up with her head on the Doctor's chest, all Rose could think was that she wished they had done this earlier.

Just before she dropped off to sleep, it occurred to Rose that she had not seen the Doctor's bare chest since that time she had put him in his pyjamas just after he regenerated. It was also painfully true that she had wanted to see it again every day since that time. Even after everything she had been through that day, it was thoughts of the Doctor half-naked that swirled in her head as she finally succumbed to sleep.


	17. Chapter 17

**I am really sorry. You all knew it was coming, but I am still so sorry. **

Rose was jerked abruptly from sleep by the Doctor sitting bolt upright, flinging her away from him in one smooth move. She looked around blearily, trying to focus on what was wrong but just too tired still to really understand.

"What? It can't be." The Doctor was staring into space, eyes wide. Rose put a hand on his arm.

"Doctor, what-?"

But before she could finish her sentence he was up and out of the room, leaving only a rush of cold air and a warm spot on the mattress. Rose peered at the clock and realised that she would probably have woken up in an hour or so anyway. Not feeling quite so cheated of the sleep she deserved, she remained propped on her elbows, not certain how serious the situation was.

After a few minutes the Doctor walked back into the room carrying Jenny, who was wearing her pyjamas but appeared to be wide awake. The Doctor was wearing an expression of shock and wonder on his face.

"What is it?" Rose asked, concerned at the Doctor's silence. "Doesn't the TARDIS always wake you up when she's up?"

"It wasn't the TARDIS," the Doctor said hoarsely, "it was Jenny."

Rose's eyes widened in shock. "Jenny?"

The Doctor nodded. He sat down on the end of Rose's bed, not noticing when Jenny crawled away from him across the duvet. Rose suspected that his legs would not have supported him for much longer. "I can feel her." The Doctor reached one hand to his temple, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them and fixing Rose with a look so intense she felt as though he were looking past her eyes and into her mind. "Just here. We've got defences, obviously, but because we're related the telepathic link is stronger and I can... I can feel her." He sounded quietly overjoyed, as if he could not quite believe it. "I haven't felt another Time Lord in my head since..." He trailed off, but Rose knew he meant since the Master had died and, before that, since his people had still existed. She couldn't quite empathise, but she definitely understood how much this meant to him.

"What did it feel like?" Rose was genuinely curious.

"It was just a feeling at first." The Doctor shifted up the bed until he was lounging beside Rose, on top of the duvet next to her. It appeared that the initial shock had worn off. "A sort of flickering feeling against my mind. And then I knew it was her. There was something about me and you and being hungry. It was quite demanding, actually, like she wanted me there _now._" He laughed, and Rose did too, looking over at Jenny who was staring at them like she could tell they were talking about her.

"How clever are you?" the Doctor said to Jenny, reaching out and tickling her tummy. She squealed and giggled. It was such an adorable noise – Rose thought that between Jenny's and the Doctor's giggles, there was a real possibility she might be overwhelmed with the sweetness of it all.

"What are we doing today then?" Rose asked as the Doctor tossed Jenny into the air and then caught her. She knew what she was really asking – namely, whether he was going to pretend he'd never asked her on a date. A date that was supposed to be happening tonight.

"So, I've got some tinkering with the TARDIS to do, and then maybe we can visit somewhere before our, erm, our date tonight?" Rose nodded, and the Doctor smiled with relief. Maybe he had thought that after a night's sleep she might have changed her mind.

They spent a bit more time getting ready for the day than normal, as Jenny got excited to the point at which she began to punch at the Doctor and Rose with her little fists. Of course, it did not really hurt that much (though more than Rose thought it would) but after being told several times to stop and just carrying on, the Doctor had to grab her hands and hold them tightly while she squawked in indignation.

"No hitting," he told her sternly, crouching down and fixing her with one of his "Oncoming Storm" scary Time Lord looks. To her credit, Jenny did not flinch or run away, as a lot of creatures did when the Doctor was making that face. Instead she got very quiet, her bottom lip stuck out and she sulked in the corner of Rose's room for a good 15 minutes. Rose and the Doctor were having a hard time not bursting out laughing at the little toddler's stomping footsteps and her overly cross expression. Muffling her giggles with her forearm, Rose got out of bed and began to find clothes to put on.

The Doctor felt almost sick. What had possessed him to want a date with Rose? Well, of course he knew the answer to that. He was in love with her, and he wanted to do this thing properly, finally.

After their discussion last night – the one where he had admitted to being a complete moron – it had been clear that they were moving forward now.

He took Jenny away to the library while Rose was pottering around doing something or other, just so he could have some time to think things through. His thinking was more like panicking, and after a while he gave up and built a small city out of bricks with Jenny, in order to take his mind off things.

In the middle of the elaborate construction of a building which was almost definitely based on the Coloseum in Rome, the Doctor suddenly thought of something. Jenny would need to be looked after while he and Rose were... out. After trying and failing to stop Jenny crashing through his elaborate cityscape like Godzilla – she seemed to be going through a destructive faze that the Doctor hoped would not turn out to be a permanent character trait - he held his daughter on his knee amid piles of bricks and pulled out a mobile phone from his pocket. It was Martha's old one that she had given him that day, not really so very long ago, and he had taken to carrying it around with him rather than leaving it on the console, just in case.

He selected a contact and the phone rang for a few seconds before Martha picked up.

"Doctor?"

"The one and only," he said down the phone, grinning. "How are you?"

"Good. A bit pregnanter than when you last saw me, but we're coping."

The Doctor got straight to the point. "I'm sorry, but I need to ask you a favour."

"If it involves running anywhere then yeah, I won't be doing that." He could hear the smile in her voice.

"I need you to look after Jenny for a while. Me and Rose are... that is I'm taking Rose out for... we're going on a..."

"A what?"

The Doctor looked down at Jenny's blonde head as she settled in his lap and frowned, like a small child being forced to say sorry after they have done something wrong. "Date," he finally muttered, spitting the word out from between his teeth as though it was the only way he was going to be able to admit it. "We are going on a date this evening. Can you babysit?"

"Sure," said Martha, and the Doctor was certain she was smothering a laugh, "and good for you, Doctor. Finally! I mean, I hope you have a wonderful time." She wasn't even smothering her laughter any more.

"Thanks," remarked the Doctor sourly, "you fill me with confidence, you really do."

The sound of laughter coming down the phone faded. "Sorry." It sounded like she meant it. "Just be relaxed and try to be nice. And don't gawp."

The Doctor frowned. "Gawp?"

"Yeah. You definitely gawp when you're around Rose – and I would imagine she'll be wearing something pretty. Try not to stare."

"I'll keep that in mind," the Doctor replied sarcastically. "You'd better tell me the date, just so I can make sure I arrive on the right day."

After a friendly jibe about his driving skills and a promise to see him later, Martha hung up the phone. The Doctor stayed on the floor, watching Jenny hit two bricks together thoughtfully. He pressed a kiss to his daughter's head and sighed. Now he had told Martha there really was no going back. Not that he had intended to call the whole thing off, of course, but now there was a sense of finality to it. He had better make a decision on where to take her.

Rose felt almost sick.

She could not imagine how tonight was going to go – all that was going through her head were worse and worse scenarios in which the date went more and more disastrously wrong until she felt so worried about it that she had to sit down and breathe deeply for a minute or two. She felt as though tonight was a turning point – and she knew that in a way it was - and that gave it a significance that scared her.

Rose waited until the Doctor was in the library playing with Jenny, before she closed her bedroom door and scrolled through the contacts on her phone. On the second ring Jack picked up.

"Rose!"

"Hi Jack. How long has it been since we last saw you?"

"A day or two. How are things going?"

Rose sat down on her bed and got ready for a long chat. "Well, me and the Doctor had a big talk – he started it."

"No way!"

Rose nodded, even though she knew Jack couldn't see her. "Yeah, I know. But then we talked it all through and got everything out in the open and we kissed and now – well, we're going on a date."

There was silence for a few seconds. Then Jack's voice came through, and Rose could hear him smiling. "A first date even though you've been in love for years – you guys are so cute."

"Well it's not technically our first date..." Rose began, thinking of that day so long ago where they had come from watching the destruction of the Earth and eaten chips. She shook her head quickly and got back to the point. "Anyway, I just wanted to get your advice – I mean, I don't want it to be awkward but we don't do stuff like this. Ever." Now that she had said it out loud Rose was suddenly acutely aware of how scary this was.

"I know. Believe me I know – everyone who knows you two has been waiting for this for a long, long time."

Rose sighed. "Yes thank you, I'm aware of the gossip this is going to generate – what I want to know is what to do? I mean... I just don't know what I mean."

Jack sounded amused. "Well from the sounds of it, I'd say you need to calm down. He probably does too, but I'm not on the phone with him right now – you can pass on the message later if you like."

Rose considered. "On the outside he seems to be fine. On the inside – well I'd imagine he's probably freaking out worse than I am."

"Rose." Jack sounded sympathetic now. "Rose, he's your best friend. More than that. You know him better than anyone else. It's just a date. All it is is a way for you two to get into a relationship – though personally, I would have thought sleeping together would have done that a lot easier, and probably a lot quicker too. Though I don't know, I'm not making any presumptions about how long the Doctor could last-"

"And you can stop right there," Rose interrupted, "no jokes about my sex life."

"Or lack of it," Jack muttered, "though I imagine that won't be the case for long."

"I swear I will hang up this phone..."

"Alright, alright!" Jack was laughing, and Rose could imagine the look on his face as he held up his hands in surrender. "I promise. Though I think you wouldn't be so touchy if I weren't hitting so close to home. But whatever, you do what you like. Just remember: you know that this was meant to happen. Just because it's sort of being made "official", doesn't change any of the basic facts. You know, you're still you and he's still him and you both want this. Just go for it. Also wear something revealing, and tell me if he blushes."

She could sense his excited glee down the phone. "It's not like he's a teenager, Jack."

"True, but it's also true that he is universally acknowledged to be awful at this. And by "this" I mean dating, not the flirting and the sex. I'm sure he's just fantastic at those bits."

"Oh shut up."

"You'll have to fill me in on all the details," Jack continued, "I've often wondered about the face he pulls when he-"

"I'm hanging up now." Rose laughed down the phone. "I am going, I am definitely going now, thanks for the unhelpful advice, bye!" Jack was still talking about some things that she had often wondered herself but was not really willing to discuss with him when he pressed the 'End Call' button and tapped the phone against her cheek.

It couldn't be that hard. It was just the Doctor, it wasn't like she hadn't eaten food with him before. Jack was right about that.

And there was another piece of Jack's advice that Rose considered putting into practice. She grinned to herself before setting off for the wardrobe room, wondering what the TARDIS had in the way of revealing dresses.

At a time that must've been around after lunch – though it was always hard to tell – Rose went to the console room to see that the Doctor and Jenny were already there. Jenny had her coat on, and the Doctor was prodding at some controls on the console. Rose chucked her jacket onto the jump seat before going up to stand next to the Doctor. Her hip brushed his and she was certain she heard his breath hitch in his throat.

"So where are we going."

"That would be telling," the Doctor replied immediately. "Well, as it happens I sort of want to tell, so you're in luck. Got a bit of a disturbance - a _weather _disturbance," he added hastily, seeing the look on Rose's face that clearly told him that disturbances meant trouble, "that I thought we should take a look at."

Rose frowned at him, then at the viewing screen before focussing on him again. "What sort of disturbance."

The Doctor turned towards her with excitement in his face that made him just about fizz with energy. "Snow, Rose. Snow, on a desert planet. They've never seen snow, Rose. The temperature's never been cold enough. And now there's been some sort of atmospheric movement that's made it snow. And we can be there! You know how good the first flakes of snow taste? Well these are the first ever on this planet. The first snowfall since the planet's formation, millions of years ago, and we get to be there. Sound good?"

She didn't want to admit it, but Rose thought it sounded brilliant. "Oh alright then," she finally said.

The Doctor beamed at her and flicked a lever, causing the TARDIS to land with its usually sonorous boom. "Oh, I've got Martha to babysit for us later, and I've found a place for us to go, but I'm really not telling about that one so there's no point asking. Even torture could not drag it out of me."

"Is that so?" Rose grinned, leaning forward until their noses were almost touching, staring into his eyes. He gulped, and she pulled away, still smiling. "Well I think I can live with not knowing for a few more hours."

"You're going to love it," the Doctor replied, suddenly earnest. "I'll just go down and check if it's started yet – bring Jenny out when you're ready?"

Rose grinned at him, and the Doctor returned it before bounding down towards the TARDIS doors. He opened one and turned to waggle his eyebrows at Rose before stepping out onto the surface of the planet. Rose rolled her eyes and pulled on her jacket. Just as she was about to pick up Jenny, she heard a shout from outside the TARDIS.

"Rose! Rose don't c-" The Doctor's voice cut off, muffled as though someone had clapped a hand over his mouth, just as Rose often threatened to do on those occasions when he wouldn't stop talking.

She ran to the doors. "Doctor!" As she reached them, Rose forced herself to slow down before stepping out, unbelievably tense and unsure of what she might find when she got out there.

"I really wouldn't advise you to move any further, Miss Tyler," said a smooth, cold voice. Rose froze.

The TARDIS had landed in what looked like it might have been a laboratory, though Rose could not see any equipment or chemicals. The floor was white tiles, the walls and ceiling painted white. There was a pair of double doors opposite the TARDIS, with small panes of glass set in the top of each one, though Rose could not see what lay beyond the doors through the windows. To be fair, she was not actually looking very hard at the doors. Something else was pulling her focus.

The space between the TARDIS and the doors seemed to be full of soldiers, women and men pointing guns right at her. A man stood off to the left, conspicuous only in his lack of weapon. Held between four of the solders, arms held tightly and guns pointed at his chest and head, was the Doctor. Another soldier had a large gloved hand clamped firmly over his mouth, and the Doctor was unable to move his head. His eyes radiated defiance but also confusion and, deep down in their brown depths, Rose could detect a spark of fear. He was looking straight at her, still struggling against the iron grip of his captors. He might be able to talk his way out of most difficult situations, but Rose could see that he had not stood a chance against these people when he had stepped out of the TARDIS doors. This was an ambush.

The man who stood apart gave a slight nod. One of the soldiers raised their gun high above the Doctor's head. Rose could see his eyes following it as he struggled to get free. The man in charge nodded again, and the soldier brought their gun down on the Doctor's head with a loud, sickening crack. The Doctor's eyes rolled and his eyelids closed. All the guards holding him released their grip, and the Doctor tumbled down towards the tiled floor, unconscious and completely helpless.


	18. Chapter 18

**It's not a resolution, but it is an explanation. Hopefully that's enough for you all not to murder me over that last cliffhanger.**

_One of the soldiers raised their gun high above the Doctor's head. Rose could see his eyes following it as he struggled to get free. The man in charge nodded again, and the soldier brought their gun down on the Doctor's head with a loud, sickening crack. The Doctor's eyes rolled and his eyelids closed. All the guards holding him released their grip, and the Doctor tumbled down towards the tiled floor, unconscious and completely helpless._

The Doctor hit the floor hard and crumpled into an unnatural position. Rose's hand flew to her mouth, but she quickly forced it down to her side before the terror and panic could take hold of her. She couldn't let these people see what she was feeling – she had to be strong. She had to keep the Doctor safe. A moment of strange relief surged through her at how fortunate it was that the Doctor had asked her to bring Jenny out with her. Had he been holding her as was so often the case, she would now be in the clutches of these people. As it was, she was still on the jump seat, safe inside the TARDIS.

"What are you doing!?" Rose said furiously, all of her energy going into not allowing her voice to wobble, not allowing herself to feel fear for the man lying unconscious on the floor in front of her. "Who are you? Why did you do that to him?"

"We've heard that he can be... difficult to deal with. We needed to bring him here without any fuss." The man who spoke was tall and gaunt, his skin white. His hair was black and greasy, and he had an air about him of deceit and cruelty. He was the slimiest person Rose had ever seen, and his face was contorted in a look that she assumed was self satisfaction. He was like a cross between the Child Catcher and Severus Snape, and Rose had to put a lot of effort into not being scared of him.

"And why do you need him?" she said, nodding towards the Doctor's unmoving body.

"Oh we don't," the man said, smiling a smile that made Rose want to run in the opposite direction. "It's not him we want at all – it's the child that you're keeping in that wondrous travel machine he possesses."

"Jenny? What do you want with her?" Rose felt horribly exposed standing here. All she wanted was to be back inside the TARDIS, but she couldn't go, not yet. She needed to know what these people wanted, and she could not let the Doctor out of her sight.

The man sighed, folding his arms as though taking the time to explain to her was beneath him. "You see, Miss Tyler, we've been watching the Doctor for a long time now. We know how powerful and how dangerous he is, and we wanted a way to capture that power. So when we were informed that he had an offspring – one that was completely Gallifreyan, rather than part human as we might have suspected of him judging by his apparent, ahem, _fondness _for his companion," – here he smirked at Rose, clearly insinuating something, and she had to resist to urge to slap him – "we knew that we had to obtain it."

"Jenny's not an it," Rose interrupted hotly, the sting of the jibe at her and the Doctor's relationship still smarting, "she's a little girl, and you can't just 'obtain' her."

"We must," the slimy man said simply, not at all taken aback by Rose's argument. "That child is the only Time Lord apart from your Doctor, here," – he kicked the Doctor with his boot and Rose practically snarled – "who exists. She has the potential for immense power. Any Time Lord child would be ideal for our plans, but a child of the Doctor? A child that possesses any of his DNA is one that we should like very much to have in our care. We will raise her as we wish, she will be the ultimate weapon. We can use her to take over the universe if we wish to – she will be unstoppable, we will make sure of that."

Rose felt sick. They wanted to steal Jenny, take her away and lock her up and turn her into a weapon, use her for their own ends.

Just as the slimy man finished his little speech, and just as Rose was staring with shock and horror at his face, the Doctor began to stir slightly, his eyelids fluttering as his consciousness attempted to reassert itself. The slimy man gave the slightest nod, and one of the soldiers struck the Doctor hard in the side of the head with the butt of her gun. His head fell back to the floor once again, a trickle of blood oozing across the white tiles. Rose bit her lip.

"You won't be getting her," she said as confidently as she could, "there is no way in hell that I would ever hand Jenny over to you, you must be mad!"

The slimy man smiled again. "Oh, not mad, Miss Tyler, just very determined. You seem to be forgetting that the Doctor, the most feared man in the universe, is in my custody. I can do whatever is necessary to... persuade you to see things my way. He can give us valuable insight and knowledge. Why do you think we targeted him? We knew nothing in the world could make him give up his daughter to us, but if we threatened you with his torture? We know you are far more likely to give us what we want than him."

Rose felt almost calm, as though everything had slowed down and she could see things very clearly all of a sudden. It wasn't the first time she had been accused of being weaker than the Doctor, and she wasn't fazed by these people or the fact that they had underestimated her. "I see. Well I've got a couple of things to tell you. One – the Doctor is not going to take too kindly to being held hostage. I almost feel sorry for you when he wakes up. Two – the Doctor is not going to go easily on the people who are trying to take his daughter and who are threatening me to do it. And three - choosing me because you think I'm weaker than the Doctor or something like that is never gonna work. I've seen a lot of things you could never understand, and I am telling you now that you will wish you'd never done this. I don't know what you know about me, or how, but I do know that I am not going to rest until I have taken you down, and neither will the Doctor." She paused, wondering if there was anything else she needed to say. Of course, there was one more thing. "And if you hurt the Doctor again, then you will not believe what will happen to you."

The slimy man glared at her, before turning to the guards just behind him. "Take him away," he ordered, and two of the guards grabbed the Doctor's arms and dragged him roughly towards the door.

Rose realised there was nothing she could do, not with all those guns trained on her and the Doctor, but she held the slimy man's eyes, staring at him with a look like ice as she stepped backwards and into the TARDIS, locking the door behind her and resting her head against it. It had all been talk, and she knew it. Against all those people armed with guns, threatening the Doctor, she had been just about as defenceless as it was possible to be.

Concentrating on the fact that the TARDIS was a safe place, and that it would give her somewhere to come up with her next move, Rose moved over to the jump seat where Jenny was sitting with her shoes on, ready for a trip out onto an alien world. Rose looked at the tiny converse trainers on the little girl's feet and felt sick to the stomach. She picked up Jenny and hugged her close, cradling her head in one hand. Jenny's hair had been getting longer, and just that morning Rose had brushed it and tied it up so that it stuck up from her head like an aerial.

"They're not going to get near you," Rose murmured so softly that Jenny would not be able to make out the words, "I am not going to let them hurt you."

She settled Jenny on her hip, but the toddler was looking a bit worried now – she seemed to have sensed that Rose was not her usual self. "Daddy?" she said.

Rose smiled, though her lips trembled as though they could not stand the weight of the pretence she was putting up for Jenny's sake. "Daddy's just gone out for a bit, he'll be back soon."

Apparently Rose's attempt to console Jenny had not done any good. Although she was tiny, she had better senses and a much better understanding of people than a human child of her age, coupled with the fact that her Time Lord telepathy was beginning to assert itself. It was possible she could sense that the Doctor was in trouble through their telepathic link, but Rose didn't know how those things worked. "Daddy," Jenny moaned, her voice getting louder and higher pitched with each repetition of the word. "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"

Hugging Jenny tight, Rose tried to soothe her, but she was properly crying now, great big sobs that made her shake. "Shh, it's OK, he'll be back soon, it's OK sweetie, he'll be alright."

It was a downright lie, and Rose knew that whether or not the Doctor would be alright rested solely on her shoulders. Jenny cried for a long time and for a while it seemed that Rose would be unable to stop her, but she stroked Jenny's hair and kept murmuring to her until the toddler was finally fast asleep. She wished someone was there to stroke her hair and make her feel better. Saving the Doctor was one thing, but him being held ransom until she handed Jenny over? She was too involved with all of this, too aware of the risk that at least one of them was not going to make it home this time, and she could not distance herself enough to think objectively just yet.

She lay Jenny on the jump seat and watched her sleep for a few minutes.

One thing was clear – Jenny was being kept out of this. Whatever they were doing to the Doctor, whatever they threatened him with, there was no way she was ever even going to consider letting Jenny near those people.

Standing in the console room, Rose knew she should come up with a plan, but no plan was coming to her. She could not think – her brain seemed to have been filled up with dust. She was still watching Jenny sleep, biting her fingernails and frowning, when the entire floor jolted and Rose lurched to the side, desperately trying to retain her balance.

The TARDIS was moving, and all of a sudden Rose was having a flashback to another time when she had been alone in the TARDIS and it had begun to fly without her telling it to. A flashback that was made suddenly more vivid by the appearance of a hologram of the Doctor in the middle of the console room. Rose stopped looking around frantically for a way to stop the TARDIS moving and focussed on the hologram. Just like before it was facing slightly away from her, and beginning to speak.

"This is Emergency Programme Five. I've made two of these messages, one in case you aren't here, Rose, and another one in case you are, which is this one of course, because if you weren't here then the other one would be playing, and I wouldn't be saying this to you." He stopped for a moment, brow furrowing as he backtracked to see if what he'd said made any sense, before shrugging and continuing. His hands were in his pockets, but his air of nonchalance seemed strained."I sorted this out a while ago, but re-recorded it the other day so I could add in a few things for you. Rose, listen to me. If you're there and I'm not, and the TARDIS had activated this programme, then it means I'm danger. Real, proper danger. The TARDIS is taking you back to Martha and Mickey's. And before you starting losing it and throwing things at me – and I'm a hologram, so that's not going to help – you need to know that this isn't me sending you away. This is me doing what we talked about – keeping Jenny safe so I won't be alone out there. Once you get to Martha, you'll have 15 minutes before the TARDIS dematerialises and comes back to wherever you were before. You'll be able to come and rescue me, and keep Jenny safe." The hologram smiled, a little sadly, Rose thought. "See, I told you I could listen. In the case of both of us not returning, the TARDIS will go back to Martha's. I've made her one of these messages, and a few for Jenny, so she can understand what's going on. So you go now, go save my life, and we'll all laugh about this later. See you soon. And Rose, I-" He cut off, looking down at his feet. "I hope you know how much you mean to me. Bye." He smiled a big smile, and the image flickered and died.

Rose nearly slumped down onto the floor, her head was spinning so much. The Doctor had sorted this out – to protect Jenny, to keep them all safe, to let her know he understood that he needed her. She could not believe he had done this. Blinking back tears, Rose shook her head from side to side, as though hoping the physical movement would stop the frantic whirring of her brain. She could thank the Doctor for the message later, when they were back safe and sound on the TARDIS.

She let her brain believe that this was the only option for how this was all going to end, just for a little while.

The TARDIS bumped and shook before stilling, and Rose knew they must be there. She picked up Jenny, who barely noticed that anything was happening at all, and walked towards the doors when she spotted a rucksack lying on the floor. Picking it up, she realised it was full of the things Martha would need to take care of Jenny while they were gone. Wondering what she would do without the TARDIS, Rose slung one of the straps over her shoulder and exited the ship. Fifteen minutes, the Doctor's hologram had said.

Rose stepped out of the TARDIS with Jenny in her arms to find Martha waiting for her. One look at the expression on Martha's face, all happiness and excitement and a little bit of slyness because she clearly knew what the Doctor and Rose should have been doing while she was looking after Jenny, and Rose felt tears in her eyes.

Martha immediately looked concerned. She stepped forward and gave Rose a hug, with slightly more difficulty than usual due to Jenny and the fact that Martha's bump was now very visible.

"What happened?" she asked urgently as Rose fought to keep control.

Rose sniffed and tried to keep her voice even. "We were going on a trip before we came to see you, to this planet with snow and stuff, all safe, but then the Doctor went out the doors and he started shouting so I ran down to see and they hit him on the head and they want—they want Jenny and they're going to hurt him if I don't give her to them and I've got fifteen minutes before the TARDIS takes me back to save him." Her speech had gotten faster and faster, her voice climbing upwards in pitch and wobbling as she began to lose her calm.

After Rose's explanation, Martha looked appalled. "But what could they want with Jenny?"

"She a Time Lord," Rose explained, "they want to use her as a weapon, keep her and raise her for their own ends. They know how dangerous the Doctor is, they've been following him, I don't know how, and they want to use Jenny against him. She's only a baby, they can't-" She broke off, holding Jenny tightly to her chest. She breathed in and out very slowly, clearing her head and foccussing on what was scaring her. "They could be doing anything to him, Martha," she whispered, "anything at all, and I can't stop them because there's no way I would ever give Jenny to them. I've got to go back to get him out."

"You can't go alone," Martha told her, "I'll come with you, I'll-"

Rose interrupted her. "No, please. I don't want to put you in danger, especially not with the baby coming, and I need to know that Jenny is safe if... if anything happens to me or the Doctor. He said he talked to you about it."

The other woman nodded. "He did. He said he was setting up an emergency something or other that would bring Jenny to us if you were in danger."

"He did. This is it. I've got to go, I've only got fifteen minutes and they're probably nearly up. If I'm not in the TARDIS when it goes then—well I don't really want to think about it."

As Rose handed over the rucksack and then the infant who was barely awake in her arms – it was so hard to let go of the toddler when it might be the last time she ever held her - Martha scrutinised her. Rose knew Martha was worried that she was going to pieces worrying about the Doctor's safety, but whatever Martha thought, Rose was going back for the Doctor, and she was going alone. Martha seemed to sense that nothing she could say would make a difference, so she merely hugged Rose tightly and wished her luck. Rose stroked Jenny's cheek and smiled, telling her to be a good girl. Jenny's sleepy little hand grasped at Rose's, and Rose knew she had to leave now or she'd never be able to go. Martha waved Jenny's hand for her as Rose strode back to the TARDIS, the combination of love and fierce determination an energising fizz through her veins.

She smiled and gave Jenny a final wave before closing the TARDIS doors. Almost immediately the ship began to dematerialise, the central column pulsing up and down as it made its return trip to wherever it was they had ended up, where the Doctor was now being held prisoner.

Rose went back to her bedroom to get herself ready. She needed to be prepared for what she was about to do – bargain for the Doctor's life, essentially.

She took a quick shower, then dragged on a pair of black trousers and the boots she had worn when she had been using the Dimension Cannon. They were sturdy and comfortable, and also very good for running. When looking for a top to wear, Rose spied some dark green lurking in the back of her wardrobe. She reached in and pulled out the garment, staring at it in shocked disbelief.

It was one of the Doctor's jumpers.

One of the ones he had worn before he looked like he did now. Had the TARDIS put it there for her? She held it to her nose and inhaled, taking in the Doctor's scent. He still smelled the same now – it was one of those few precious things that had not changed with regeneration. Pulling it on, she looked at herself in the mirror. It was baggy, but not enough that it would be a problem. It was comforting, wearing something of the Doctor's, like having him close to her. She silently thanked the TARDIS before pulling on her jacket. With no other options and rescue to attempt, someone had to be the Doctor.

Today it was going to be Rose.


	19. Chapter 19

**Well I apologise about that cliffhanger, and here's the resolution, but they're not out of the woods yet. Sorry in advance.**

When the TARDIS landed, Rose didn't want to go out. She stood in the console room, eyeing the doors with apprehension, fingers twisted into the hem of the Doctor's jumper.

She had formulated a sort of plan while she had been getting dressed. It was an idea that could save the pair of them with reasonable ease, though it depended very much on whether that man believed what she said to the Doctor when she found him. She only hoped that he had not been hurt. Not only would that be a really bad thing in general, but without the Doctor to take part in the plan then she would not be able to get them out of her.

With one last deep breath, Rose patted the console fondly and made her way to the doors. She peeked out and found she was looking just about straight down the barrel of a gun. How tedious.

"I want to see the man in charge," she told the gun, and it lowered slightly to reveal a guard in a black uniform with a helmet on. Making sure the TARDIS doors were tightly shut and locked behind her, Rose allowed herself to be marched down multiple white corridors which began to merge in her mind as she attempted to remember which way they had come. It was the sort of thing that might come in useful later, but trying to file away each turn they made and reverse it in her mind for the trip back, when every corridor looked the same, proved to be nigh on impossible.

They ended up in another white room – these people really did not seem to like variation in their decorating – which seemed to be an office of some kind. The slimy man who Rose had been brought to see was sitting behind a white desk, peering at Rose over his own, fingertips.

"Well Miss Tyler, so glad to see that you've come to your senses. I see you have not brought the child with you."

Rose took a breath before answering. "I can't. I want to get the Doctor out of here, but he's the only person who can get Jenny out of the TARDIS now. The Emergency Protocol activated, that means that the Doctor alone can go in there now." She bit her lip, hoping she was fooling them. "I just want him safe, and he'd be willing to bring Jenny out and negotiate with you, I'm sure of it. But there's nothing more I can do on my own."

The slimy man stood up, pacing around to the front of his desk. "You could be lying, you know. This could all be some clever trick.

Nodding, Rose arranged her features into what she hoped was an earnest expression. "That's true, it could be, but there's no way I can get back into the TARDIS. It's impossible. You need him to do this, and I'm the only one that can persuade him to." She kept her eyes big and pleasing, focussed entirely on the slimy man. He was regarding her with scrutiny.

"Very well," the man conceded, motioning to the guards next to the door, "I will let you in there to talk to him. If this is indeed the only way for us to get the child, then we will have to make the Doctor co-operate." He began to issue commands, and for a few moments after he was done speaking, the room was silent while they waited to be told the Doctor was ready to be seen.

"But why do you even need him?" Rose blurted out, cursing herself immediately afterwards. She had planned to simply plant this information in the man's mind and leave it at that, but her curiosity got the better of her. "How could you even find out about him? Surely there are easier ways to get power than this?"

The slimy man chuckled, a sinister thing to behold, before settling on the edge of his desk as though he were ready to tell a long story.

"The Time Lords are a legend, a power unequalled throughout the universe. With their race gone we assumed that that power had died with them. You and I both know, however, that this was not the case. The Doctor first came to our attention a long time ago. This is our main base, of course, but we also have a secondary base on Earth – your home planet, I believe. We noticed how fond he seemed to be of that peculiar planet and its primitive people, and so we made sure that we remained close by. We have rudimentary time travel devices that we can use in certain circumstances to keep an eye on him." The man raised his arm and Rose took note of the device on his wrist, similar to the one that Jack wore. "It wasn't really that hard to simulate a phenomena in the weather that would attract his attention, and once we knew he'd be coming we developed a machine that could shift the time frame just slightly and bring him here later than he thought. By rights, his TARDIS should have materialised here this time last year – that's when we created the weather disturbance. The device waits until the TARDIS locks on and then shifts just slightly, causing a ripple in time that changes the destination. It's quite clever really, I would show you if we weren't in the middle of something else."

Rose was not interested in this man's smugness at his efforts to trap the Doctor. "So you've been planning this for a long time, then?"

The man smiled – he was so creepy it almost made Rose feel sick – and examined his nails as he continued. "Miss Tyler, this society had been working on a way to harness the power of the Time Lords for over 100 years. The only reason that we have finally begun to intercept him rather than simply observing him is because of the child. We've been using the device for a few years now, but sometimes we don't always attract the attention of the right TARDIS. Occasionally the Doctor will find his TARDIS drawn to a peculiarity that is particularly uneventful – I think it's happened 5 or 6 times now throughout his lifetime. As soon as we realised that we had reached him in a time before the child was born, we simply retreated to a safe distance and began to work with the machine again."

Rose was appalled. These people had been watching them, following them.

"Of course, we knew that we were looking for him at a time when he was with you, my dear." Rose bristled at being talked down to like that. "We understood the nature of your, ahem, relationship, and from there on it all seemed too easy, really. You and him – you both form each other's weakness, I'm afraid. There couldn't be a better way to get hold of the child than by using one of you against the other." He began to pace around the room, arms clasped behind his back as he looked at her. Rose kept staring in front, not letting him see any emotion or weakness in her face. "We weren't sure that he was even capable of a relationship like this, but seeing you two together confirmed it. What a fool he is to allow himself to be made vulnerable by a mere girl, a human girl, however pretty she may be."

Rose shivered, even as she could feel anger bubbling under her skin, making her feel hot and cold all at once. The slimy man was behind her, and she could all of a sudden feel his breath on her neck. She had to stop herself from cringing away from him. She hated being leered at, hated the fact that she knew the sort of thoughts that were going through his head, and that none of them were particularly pleasant. She wished she could just knock him out and be done with it, the stupid, patronising git, but there was no chance of that working, what with the guards. She just remained totally still, trying to act as though there weren't 4 guns trained on her and there wasn't a creepy man right behind her and she wasn't unarmed and without a solid escape plan.

"Well you're not going to be getting anywhere near Jenny until I see the Doctor. If he's hurt in any way, then we're going to be having words." She stayed silent, giving him time to consider his options.

Annoyingly, he seemed to find her threat amusing. "I am terrified, Miss Tyler. If you'll follow me?" He gestured towards the doors that had slid open moments before, to reveal two guards. They marched Rose and the slimy man down another few corridors, before they came to another white room; one that Rose was absolutely certain was a prison.

It was mainly white, but the grey metal bars that shut off one half of it indicated that the far side was used as a cell. Inside this cell there was the figure of a man – a tall skinny man with great hair.

"Doctor?" He looked slightly wobbly and a little paler than usual, but his eyes were still bright. Whatever they had done to him, it had not caused any lasting damage. "Doctor!"

Rose ran towards him and tumbled awkwardly to her knees. She thrust her hands through the bars and gripped at any part of him she could reach. His strong hands grasped hers and she was sure he would have smiled were he not too busy being worried sick.

"Are you OK? Is Jenny OK?"

"We're both fine," Rose tried to say reassuringly, but all she could quite manage was relief that he was alive. "Emergency Programme 5 activated, so she's locked in the TARDIS until you get back there and bring her out."

There was only the tiniest flicker of confusion on the Doctor's face at Rose's words – anyone who knew him less well than she did would never have noticed the slight contraction of his eyebrows and the obvious question in his eyes. "Well that's alright then – as long as she's safe."

Rose nodded. "Totally safe." He visibly relaxed, but Rose could not. "What did they do to you?"

He shrugged, just as Rose had known he would. "Little of this, little of that. Mind probe or two. Wee bit of torture – nothing too major, I've had much worse in my time." Rose felt slightly sick that the Doctor could brush off the torture as easily as this. Apparently he noticed her discomfort, because he drew her to him and hugged her through the bars. It wasn't easy and it wasn't comfortable, but it was him.

"Doctor," Rose said as she pulled back from his arms, "you have to bring Jenny out. Maybe we can reason with these people, come to a reasonable decision, but they aren't going to listen to us until we've brought out Jenny. You understand?"

She looked straight into his eyes, willing him to understand. He must know that Emergency Programme 5 had taken Jenny to Martha and Mickey, otherwise Rose would not have known about it. Evidently he figured it out, because he sagged against the bars as though admitting defeat. "

"OK then, you win. I'll bring her out."

After he muttered those words, it was only a matter of moments before he was out of the cell and he and Rose were once more being led through a maze of white corridors, back towards the TARDIS.

"Why did you say that about Emergency Programme 5?" he muttered as they walked along together, clasping her hand in his in a gesture that conveyed just how worried he had actually been.

Rose tried to speak in a way that would not attract attention. "Because if they think Jenny's in the TARDIS then they'll spend their time trying to get into it, which you told me was impossible. Assembled hordes of Genghis Khan and all that." The Doctor grinned and gripped her hand tighter. "Whereas if they knew where she actually was, they'd be spending their time torturing you and possibly me in order to make us go get her. This way they think that you have to be the one who goes inside and brings her out. And once you're in the TARDIS, well, who knows what might happen?"

The Doctor's eyes were wide as he realised the subtleness of Rose's plan, the idea she had planted in the heads of their captors to make sure the Doctor could get back inside the TARDIS. "Rose Tyler, have I ever told you that you are brilliant and a genius?"

"Probably, but I think I can just about manage to hear it again."

A few more quick whispers were all they needed to get the rest of the plan sorted. The Doctor protested several elements of Rose's idea, as they hinged on him being inside the TARDIS while she was outside and exposed, but Rose shushed him. They did not have a choice, and she was going to be fine. She was going to get them out of here alive and well. He just had to trust her.

Once they arrived back at the TARDIS room, the slimy man stayed by the door, clearly not intending to stay and see this part of the process through.

"I must leave, but you will activate the force field while I am gone." The man looked at Rose and the Doctor, who were standing very close to each other, and sneered. "Any attempt to get out of here through that door once the energy field is activated will not go well, I assure you. While the Doctor is in the TARDIS, Miss Tyler will be kept out here. Any rash move on your part, Time Lord, any production of a weapon or attempt to dematerialise your TARDIS will result in her immediate death." As if on cue, the guards grabbed Rose's arms and yanked her away from the Doctor, one aiming their gun straight at her head. "I will be back shortly. Ensure that the child is procured without incident."

With that he left, marching through the door with purpose, and the guard who was not threatening Rose's life tapped a sequence of buttons on the keypad next to the door. A wave of shimmering blue light sprang up in the doorway, presumably the energy field that the slimy man had spoken of. Once it had rippled into place it was almost invisible, with only the tiniest shimmering disturbances indicating that there was anything apart from air in the doorway.

"Get on with it then," growled one of the guards, and Rose felt the gun touch her skin.

The Doctor opened the door of the TARDIS and slipped inside, only able to spare a tiny glance back at Rose before the door clicked shut. Rose could feel the barrel of the gun, cold and unyielding and pressed much too firmly against her head. Now was her chance. She had to play this right.

Letting her eyelids flutter, Rose began to swat and groan, her head lolling first onto one shoulder and then the other. She let one ankle lean sideways, her foot shifting and giving the impression that she was only just able to stay on her feet.

"I can't," she murmured, staggering again and reaching out to grab at the nearest guard, who was looking at her with concern and apprehension, "I can't see." With what she hoped was a convincing gasp, Rose toppled to the floor. She hit her head against the floor – not as hard as she would have done if her faint had been genuine, but hard enough that the guards would not be suspicious. Her entire plan hinged on the fact that they were still underestimating her. The slimy man had posted fewer guards there to keep an eye on her than he had with the Doctor. He was probably going to regret that move later.

Waiting until one of the guards knelt down next to her to check her pulse, Rose shot out a hand and snatched the gun from the startled guard. She rolled over and quickly smacked at the other guard's ankles, scrambling out of the way as the tall man toppled to the ground. Rose was on her feet in seconds, gun pointed at the guards, both of whom were still on the floor, confused and scared. Alarms started to sound throughout the building and Rose sighed inwardly – of course they must have some sort of surveillance system.

"Stop her!" cried a familiar voice from down the corridor, and Rose caught one glimpse of the slimy man running towards her, fury and panic in his eyes – right into the energy field he had ordered be set up in order to prevent Rose or the Doctor from escaping.

For a second he was frozen in mid step, his face contorted and his body crackling with yellow energy, before he slumped to the floor. Rose did not know whether he was alive or not, and frankly at that moment she was more worried about getting away than anything else. The two guards were still there, getting back to their feet, though they both seemed to wary of her still to prevent attack. The incapacitation of their commander also seemed to have shaken them, but Rose was too angry to feel any sympathy for them. She hoped she was emanating even a part of the fury she had seen on the Doctor's face when he was in similar situations.

"Leave my family alone," she snarled, spitting out the words with the gun aimed levelly at the two guards. A couple of steps backwards and Rose hit the TARDIS doors. She pushed them open, chucking the gun back to the guard she had stolen it from in the first place, who caught it with a bemused look on his face, and giving both a smug and triumphant grin before whirling and slamming the doors shut behind her.

A blur of movement confused her vision, and in a moment Rose was in the Doctor's arms, being lifted off her feet and hearing his laughter in her ear. "You were brilliant," he beamed triumphantly, "I was watching on the monitor, that was just fantastic!"

"Thank you." He put her down, but his arms remained around her waist for a few seconds, the ridiculous grin never leaving his face. When he finally pulled away, she could see that another idea had clouded his mind, and all thoughts of possible reunion kissing were blown from her head as though by a passing breeze.

"Right, now we're back in here and things are on our terms again, I think it's time we go and deal with that lot out there." The Doctor sounded relaxed enough, but he was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. His whole body was taught, rigid and almost violent in its movements. It was clear that, now he no longer had to fear for their lives, the Doctor was being consumed by rage – the anger that these people had tried to hurt him, his daughter and his Rose was clearly taking over his brain, not allowing him to think straight.

"Doctor." Rose put a hand on his arm and he finally stilled. He looked at her, and his eyes were full of fire. "Doctor, I know they're awful and hideous and what they tried to do was unthinkable, but you've gotta stay calm. Don't do anything stupid like try and get revenge or something."

For a couple of moments the Doctor didn't say anything. He didn't even move. Then finally, he sagged. His shoulders dropped and he leant forward, hugging Rose to his and burying his face in the shoulder. "I wasn't going to do anything stupid," he said in a muffled voice.

"I know," Rose replied, arms wrapped tightly around him, "I just thought you might need reminding, you know, that you weren't going to do anything stupid."

The Doctor snorted with laughter and stood back up to his full height. "Come on then, let's go sort them out. I might not be acting rashly, but they're not going to be pulling something like this again, and I'm making sure of it."

Rose nodded. "Seems fair. Just try not to terrify them to within an inch of their lives."

"I think you already did that." Rose tried not to look smug.

With the slimy man dead, it was the work of moments for the Doctor to destroy all of the records of himself in the society's archive, melt the time shifting device and destroy all the vortex manipulators. That, along with Oncoming Storm looks and threats about what may happen if any of them even thought about coming near him, Rose or Jenny again, proved to be all that was needed to remove the threat posed by the society.

Back in the TARDIS, which the Doctor had taken to the vortex, Rose took off her jacket and stretched, before becoming aware that the Doctor was staring at her torso in a way that wasn't quite his usual style.

"Doctor, what are you looking at?"

He jerked out of his reverie, but without the awkward gabbling and the guilty facial expression she would have thought he would be sporting if he had in fact just been staring at her breasts.

"Is, is that my jumper?"

Rose looked down at herself in shock, as though surprised to see that the garment she had put on earlier was still there. "Um, yeah. I think the TARDIS put it in my wardrobe or something, but I saw it and I just thought it'd be good, you know. Give me a bit of strength or whatever." She avoided his gaze – it was suddenly too direct for her.

He took a couple of steps forward and rested his hands gently on her upper arms. Rose tilted her head to look up at him. He was practically glowing with pride and gratitude, "Rose, you have plenty of strength without my jumper there to help you. If it weren't for you then I'd... well I wouldn't be here in the TARDIS now, would I?"

"So you don't want me wearing it then?" Rose smiled, a little bit of tongue just poking out, and the Doctor's expression shifted.

"Well I didn't say that," he answered, voice that little bit deeper as his eyes travelled down and then up again, "actually I'm quite enjoying seeing you in it."

"As opposed to seeing me out of it?" Rose wondered if she was pushing a bit too far with this, but the Doctor simply smirked.

"That would be good too, but I think before we explore the pros and cons of you wearing and not wearing my clothes, we ought to go and tell Martha and Mickey that we're not dead. I doubt Jenny will have noticed we were gone."

"I wouldn't have thought there'd be any cons to me not wearing clothing," Rose grumbled.

The Doctor simply raised his eyebrows at her suggestively. "One con would be that if it's already off you, I don't get the pleasure of removing it myself." Rose gawked at his forwardness for a second, and was certain that he blushed a little. She smiled and looked away.

"Come on then, let's go."

Rose flung open the TARDIS doors and they both stepped out, eager now to assure Martha and Mickey that they were alright. Martha came running into the garden, as fast as she could now that she was more heavily pregnant. "You're alright," she said with shock and relief, but she did not smile and there were bags under her eyes.

"How long have I been gone?" Rose asked.

"You were here yesterday," said Martha, but she was twisting her hands and she did not seem focussed at all on what she said.

"Martha?" The Doctor stepped forward, concerned, and put his hands comfortingly on her shoulders. "What's wrong?"

When Martha looked up at the Doctor, Rose somehow knew from the sad and hopeless look in her eyes what she was about to say. "It's Jenny."


	20. Chapter 20

**OK, no evil cliffhanger this time, I promise.**

_"Martha?" The Doctor stepped forward, concerned, and put his hands comfortingly on her shoulders. "What's wrong?" _

_When Martha looked up at the Doctor, Rose somehow knew from the sad and hopeless look in her eyes what she was about to say. "It's Jenny."_

The Doctor's face hardened, and he was inside the house in a flash. Rose gave Martha a quick hug before grabbing her hand, and the two women went quickly inside, Martha leading Rose into the living room.

There, lying on one of the sofas and covered with a blanket, was Jenny. Mickey was standing near with a basin of water and a flannel – he had clearly been watching over the little girl as she slept – and the Doctor was just kneeling down beside her.

Jenny looked awful. Her skin was pale and waxy, and she was frowning in her sleep. She was covered in sweat, beads of it on her forehead, and she was shaking. Her eyes were heavily shadowed and tightly shut, and small patches of her skin seemed to be turning purple, as though she were covered in bruises at various stages of healing.

"I've tried everything," Martha said as the Doctor smoothed Jenny's hair back from her forehead, "it's like nothing I've ever seen and she won't respond to anything I've done. I even contacted Jack to see if he had anything that might help, but there's been nothing. I couldn't take her to the hospital, the moment they saw that she had two hearts they'd lock her up. I think... I think she's dying."

Martha sounded tearful, and Rose wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I'm so sorry, Mar, I shouldn't have left you to deal with this."

The other woman sniffed and wiped her eyes, which were almost overflowing with unshed tears. "Nonsense, it was the safest place for her to be. Besides, I'm a doctor."

Rose smiled, though it felt wrong on her face, before going over and crouching down next to the Doctor. She took one of Jenny's hands in her own, but was not rewarded with any sign that Jenny was aware of the contact. The Doctor was cupping Jenny's small cheek with one of his hands. "Jenny," he said softly," Jenny, it's me, I'm here." He sounded absolutely desperate, his voice tremulous even though he was trying so hard to sound calm and soothing. "Jenny, sweetie, me and Rose are both here. Can you hear me?" Her eyelids flickered a bit, but her body was still shaking. Rose couldn't tell if she was asleep or simply so feverish she could not respond. "Jenny? We're going to get you better, OK?" Rose noticed his voice break, and felt a big, cold lump settle in her chest.

The Doctor scooped his daughter up in his arms and stood up, turning around to face his friends. "Thank you for looking after her," he said to both of them, earnest and truly grateful, "we'll come back and let you know how she—what happens in a minute." Martha nodded, and Mickey put an arm around her, reaching out to grab one of Jenny's hands.

"Hang in there," he said, and Rose smiled. She and the Doctor just about sprinted to the TARDIS, the Doctor kicking the console on his way through. It appeared the TARDIS understood what was going on, because the central column started pulsing and Rose could tell that they were being flown into the vortex. They were in the medical room in a flash, the Doctor laying Jenny down on the bed and reaching into his pocket for his stethoscope.

Rose could barely process what was happening. After all the stuff she had been through today, she would have expected the moment they returned to pick up Jenny would have been full of triumph and relief – a celebration. Now she was unsure if she was ever going to see Jenny conscious again.

"Doctor, are you OK to be doing this?" Rose knew he had other things to worry about now, but she couldn't help herself. "They captured you, you got tortured. Are you up to this? We could go back, get Martha to help, get Mickey, Jack, anyone. You look like death."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Rose wished she had not chosen to use that particular word. The Doctor looked up at her, eyes wide and sparkling with what she hoped were not tears. "I can rest later. Promise, I'll even let you take care of me, but I'm the only one who can do this. Time Lord physiology, it's completely different to humans. If I can work out what this is doing to her then I can get her better." He continued to work as he spoke, hands almost blurring. "Torture is one thing, but her dying is not something I am going to let happen. Once we're through this, you can worry about me."

Rose smoothed the hair on Jenny's forehead as the Doctor scanned Jenny with some device she had never seen before. "You'd better not forget our date." Her voice seemed sad and small and so unlike her. The Doctor spared her a tiny look, eyes crinkling with a smile he could not quite manage to show on his lips.

"Promise."

There wasn't another word spoken in the infirmary for a long while. Rose helped to hold things for the Doctor, keeping an eye on Jenny's heart rate through the machine next to her, but most of the time she held the little girl's hand and simply hoped the Doctor could do enough to save her. She was so worried for both of them, and it felt as though her chest was being almost crushed with the weight of fear and suspense she was carrying.

After a while it seemed she could do nothing to help. The Doctor had taken some of Jenny's blood and was conducting various tests on it, swilling some liquid around in a test tube and frowning. Rose knew she could be of no more use to the Doctor for now, so with one final squeeze of Jenny's hand she took a seat in the corner of the room and waited.

Rose was almost asleep in her chair when she became aware that the flurry of movement had stopped. She blinked her bleary eyes and stood up. The Doctor had bottles of various coloured liquids in front of him on the desk, and he was very carefully mixing different amounts of each one together. The mixture in the main beaker was turning from yellow to green to red with each additional ingredient.

"Have you figured out what it is then, Doctor?"

He nodded, not taking his eyes from his work. "It's a toxin. A very specifically engineered toxin, designed only to affect Time Lords. It targets specific aspects of the binary vascular system – those things that look like bruises are actually bruises, they're a side effect of the poison that's destroying her system. It's a mix of different toxins but I've extrapolated each one. All I've got to do is mix together an antidote and she'll be fine."

Rose almost felt it was an anticlimax. "Just like that, she'll be better?"

The Doctor spared her a reassuring glance. "Yep. But what I still can't work out it how she got it, she hasn't been near anything like this in her life, never mind toda-"

He stopped, mouth still open, a bottle of deep purple liquid clutched in his hand. After a few seconds he suddenly came to life again, smacking himself in the head with such ferocity that Rose jumped. He turned to her excitedly, his entire face alight with the realisation.

"They gave her this! This thing, this disease she's got, those people, that society were the ones that gave it to her!" Rose continued to feel confused, but the Doctor was on one of his mega-rants, hands in his hair and pacing manically, so she guessed it wouldn't be too long before he explained it all fully. "When you went out after I was ambushed – they must have planted it on you, sprayed it or just released it into the air. It's a toxin that's harmful to Time Lords, it wouldn't have had any effect on you, you wouldn't even realise that there was anything wrong. But when you went in and touched Jenny..." He paused, staring into space, mouth hanging open slightly. "It was insurance. They needed to make sure that you would bring Jenny back to them, so they made her sick. They knew you'd figure out what had caused it eventually, that you'd have to bring her back to them to cure her, and then they'd have her." He began to fill syringes with the mixture of antidotes, working fast and furiously.

Blinking, Rose let this new bit of information sink in. "Wow, thats, that's thorough."

The Doctor nodded as he carefully injected Jenny with one of the syringes he had prepared. "Very thorough. Only they didn't count on one thing."

"What was that?"

He looked up at her with a magnificent grin and sparkling eyes. "The fact that you would be able to rescue me from there with both hands tied behind your back. As long as they had me they knew I wouldn't be able to cure her – it never occurred to them that getting me out of trouble is all in a day's work for you."

Rose returned his grin, standing up and walking to the bed where Jenny lay. "So you can fix her then? I mean, you can cure whatever it is that she's got?"

He brandished a syringe at her. "I just did. All done. Tricky, but once I'd figured out which toxins they'd combined, all I had to do was mix up an antidote. Simple idea really, it's the mixing that takes the time." He kissed Jenny's head and stood up again, bouncing on the balls of his feet in triumph. "It'll get to work on her now, and when she wakes up she'll be good as new. Brilliant."

He grabbed Rose up in a hug that lifted her right off the ground, and swung her around, laughing. The victory seemed to have filled him with energy and joy, and all Rose could really do was wrap her arms around his neck and laugh with him, almost weak with relief that he had managed to find a cure in such a reasonably short amount of time.

The Doctor put Rose down eventually, but kept his arms around her, fitting them around her waist so comfortably that Rose would have been happy for him to keep them there, possibly forever, despite the difficulties that would ensue.

"So when will she wake up?"

"Not too long," the Doctor smiled, "it's quite fast acting, it'll only be about ten minutes before the toxins are neutralised."

The next ten minutes were load with anticipation, but Rose was not tense in the way she had been for almost the last 24 hours. She leaned against the wall next to the Doctor, her head leaning against his shoulder. He rested his head upon hers, and they stood that way without saying anything. Rose was just rejoicing in the fact that the Doctor was back, and that she could feel him and smell him and he was safe with her again. She had been more shaken by him being knocked out and dragged away than she had let on earlier.

Jenny began to stir after not too long, flinging her arms out wide and kicking her legs a little. She had barely moved for the entire time that the Doctor had been working, and so even the mundane movement of waking was so comforting for Rose. She sneaked a peek at the Doctor and could see just from the way his eyes were shining that he noticed every tiny movement. Jenny's skin was still covered in bruises, but even in ten minutes the dark purple and black blotches on her skin had faded to lighter purple, and some to green and yellow around the edges, indicating that they were well on the way to being healed.

Jenny's eyes opened wide all of a sudden, brown and the spitting image of her father's, and she gurgled with delight. "Daddy back!" She seemed to have no idea of the danger she had been in, something which Rose was very relieved about.

"Yes I'm back," the Doctor grinned, picking her up off the bed and wrapping her in his arms, the blanket she had been sleeping under still trapped between them. Her little chubby arms went around his neck and he nuzzled her head affectionately. Rose knew that he was taking in her smell and the feel of her in his arms again – she had done the same when she had found him again, and knew what it was like to feel as though you would never see someone again. The Doctor's eyes were closed and he gently rocked Jenny back and forth, his arms locked around her. He was murmuring something that she could not make out, though from what she could hear it did not sound like English. It occurred to her it might be Gallifreyan, and she felt a momentary pang of sadness that she would never be able to understand the Doctor's beautiful native language.

"Wose! Wose here Daddy!" Jenny was leaning away from the Doctor now, hands grasping at the air and stretching towards Rose so hard that she was going to fall out of the Doctor's arms if she wasn't careful. Rose walked over and took one of Jenny's hands in her own.

"Hi." Jenny gave Rose a clumsy hug, her legs and body still held by the Doctor while her arms clutched at Rose and her head lay on Rose's shoulder. "Missed you, you know. It's not half as noisy round here without you, even with your dad talking non stop."

"Oi."

Rose just gave the Doctor a look as Jenny burbled something unintelligible, though Rose was sure she made out the words "car" and "hippo" somewhere in the mix and the Doctor gave up feigning hurt and grinned. Jenny reached up a hand and patted Rose's cheek, so Rose reached out and did the same, her hand stroking Jenny's smooth cheek and feeling the warmth and life that had been missing when the little girl had been lying on the bed only hours before, weak and unconscious.

When Jenny began to grapple with Rose's hair and squawk, the Doctor surmised that she was hungry – he told Rose that that was the only time the telepathic link seemed to really be used by her, when she needed food – so they made their way to the kitchen and the Doctor made her some dinner, whirling around the room at a speed that seemed almost dangerous. Rose entertained Jenny while he worked and made herself some toast, sitting down at the table just as a cup of tea came sliding towards her across the wooden surface, skidding to a halt right in front of her with only minimal mess.

"Bullseye!" the Doctor yelled in triumph, holding up a hand for a high five from Jenny, who stared at his hand blankly for a few moments before leaning forward and sucking on one of his fingers. "That is not how it works," the Doctor told her in all seriousness, before taking her hand and teaching her the intricacies of a high five.

Rose was laughing and trying not to spray toast crumbs everywhere as she watched them interact. Everything just seemed happier and funnier and brighter now that they were all OK again, and the entire terrifying ordeal of that day was behind them. Rose was sure it would come back to her in her nightmares, but right now she was basking in the utter joy that, was filling the TARDIS kitchen.

Halfway through her meal Jenny began to wilt, even the lure of food was unable to stop her from just about falling straight into her dinner. The Doctor smiled fondly at her as her eyelids continued to droop, and pulled her out of her high chair. "The illness and the healing will have taken a lot out of her," he explained to Rose, "she'll need to sleep for quite a while."

Rose pushed open the door and they headed down towards Jenny's bedroom, but the Doctor stopped a few steps from the door. "I need to phone Mickey and Martha," he said, "they need to know she's alright." It occurred to Rose than the Doctor was not always this considerate of what other people were feeling. In the past it would have been her reminding him that he needed to make that call. It must have been having Jenny around. It had changed him in a lot of little ways – nothing massive or immediately noticeable, but Jenny had made him better. In some ways she was the best thing that could have happened to him.

"Yeah, you'd better let them know, they were so worried." The Doctor passed Jenny over to Rose, and as he pulled Martha's old phone out of his pocket and pressed a few buttons, Rose felt Jenny curl into her body, blonde head buried Rose's neck. "I'll take her," she said to the Doctor, and he shot Rose a grateful smile just as it was apparent that Martha had picked up the phone.

"Martha? She's fine. Really, she's just fine, eating and talking and pulling people's hair again, she's really alright." She could tell he was grinning even though his back was turned to her, and Rose set off down the corridor with a smile of her own covering her face.

Rose changed Jenny's nappy and got her into her pyjamas without too much hassle, though a couple of games of peek-a-boo and a bit of a distraction when Jenny managed to hide herself under the bed stopped Rose from saying she had managed it easily. She had helped the Doctor so much with Jenny over the past weeks that she had managed to pick up all the skills she needed to take care of Jenny's needs without even noticing it.

Rose laid a subdued Jenny down in her bed and pulled the blanket gently over her. The little girl still had her eyes open no matter how much her body seemed to need to recuperate, and Rose thought that this was the point at which a lullaby might be used to lull the child to sleep. At least, it was all that she could think of to do to help Jenny drop off.

Opening her mouth, Rose was surprised to find herself singing "Moon River" softly and gently, and was somewhat relieved to see that it had the desired effect on Jenny. She yawned and wriggled around for a few moments, but soon she was lying on her back with her eyes closed, and Rose could see her chest moving up and down slowly. She still found it surprising how quickly Jenny could go from wide awake to deeply asleep. Looking away from the bed, Rose found the Doctor leaning against the door frame, watching her with very intense eyes.

"Couldn't think of anything else to sing," she mumbled, hands half gesturing before simply falling to her sides. He was still just looking at her, which was strange because normally any silences would have been filled by his gob before she had even had a chance to register that there was a silence to begin with.

She walked to stand next to him in the doorway, and his gaze flicked from her to Jenny. He seemed unwilling to leave her, especially after what they had been through that day, so Rose leaned on the wall and stayed put for a few minutes, watching Jenny sleep, with the Doctor's slow, even breathing almost loud in the practically silent room.

Eventually he took her hand, and Rose went with him out through the door, shutting it behind her. Now that the light was brighter, Rose found her eyes drawn down to their joined hands. She had noticed the spots of blood on the Doctor's cuffs quite a lot earlier, around the time that she had asked him whether he was alright to be saving Jenny's life on his own, but she had put it out of her mind when he had insisted on soldiering on. Saving Jenny had been their priority. But now that was over with, and the little girl was sound asleep in her bed, Rose's eyes were drawn to the Doctor's sleeves which were spotted with much more blood than she had noticed a few hours earlier.

Standing outside Jenny's room again (they seemed to do a lot of talking just outside her door, Rose noted) the Doctor turned to face her and smiled.

"Can I have a look at your hands?" she asked, trying to be casual. She sensed that if he knew why she wanted to check him over he would fob her off with a rubbish excuse.

He stuck out his hands towards her, looking slightly puzzled, but just as her fingers closed on his skin he seemed to shudder. His long body convulsed before beginning to fall, as though all the bones were gone from his legs. Rose caught him and held his weight, arms wrapped around him in a crude imitation of the hugs she had grown to crave.

"You are not OK," she told him, trying to help him find his feet again. Rose draped one of his arms over her shoulders, and wrapped her arm around his waist. She looked at his face – he was paler than usual, freckles standing out against his skin.

"I'm just a bit woozy," the Doctor said, voice somewhat more breathless than usual, "they did a lot of brain scanning and poking and prodding in my mind. Couple that with a bit of torture and everything else that's happened today and I think I've been a bit overloaded. Just help me to my room, please Rose, I'll rest there."

Rose walked slowly down the corridor, taking as much of the Doctor's weight as she could. She left him leaning against the wall for a moment when they passed the infirmary again, while she nipped inside, reappearing with bandages and some antiseptic cream, which the Doctor told her sped up the process of healing quite dramatically. When they got to the door that led into his room, Rose suspected that he might have insisted she leave him at the door and he could cope from there. Not allowing him even a second of hesitation in which to strike, she twisted the handle and pushed the door open.

The lights were on – the TARDIS was very helpful with things like this – and Rose helped the Doctor forward before sitting him down on the bed. He sank into the mattress with a sigh of relief. Rose knew that he was not used to actually feeling truly exhausted.

He shrugged off his jacket while Rose dumped her armful of medical supplies on the bed. "Right, roll up your sleeves then." The Doctor just looked at her, but she held her nerve and stared him down, until at last he rolled his eyes and smiled, unbuttoning his cuffs.

Pulling the ends of the sleeves up his arms, Rose could see that his wrists were red raw, presumably from pulling at the chains or restraints they had used on him. She tried not to bite her lip – she knew that the Doctor knew that she was worried when she did that – but simply picked up the antiseptic cream and beginning to apply it to the broken skin.

"I could do this myself, you know." The Doctor was watching as she cleaned his wounds, and Rose suddenly became very aware of her fingers on his wrists. His arms were very nice. She seemed to be noticing them a lot, but they were very nice arms and she could not help it.

"Yeah, you could, but you wouldn't. You'd just leave it and wait for it to heal and pretend not to notice when all your shirts were covered in blood."

He grinned. "I'm sure you'd point it out."

Rose lifted any eyebrow. "Oh yeah. Just before you fainted from blood loss I'd just lean over and whisper that you might want to grab a plaster." He laughed at that, and seemed to become a lot more willing to let her help him once she had managed to make him laugh.

As she helped him put bandages around his wrists, the Doctor leaned forward to hold the end of one in place, and Rose noticed markings on his neck. "Doctor, what are those?" She reached up a hand to pull back his collar, but he shifted away.

"It's nothing, Rose."

"Yeah, OK, nothing my arse."

Having finished securing the last bandage, Rose reached up and carefully undid his tie, pulling until the strip of silk slipped through his collar and hung from her hand. She put it to one side and unbuttoned the top two buttons on his shirt, trying to breathe evenly as she did so.

The way he was looking at her as she worked was not helping.

Rose pulled his collar out of the way and saw what she had caught a glimpse of a moment of so ago. Burns and red blistering marks marred his skin, his neck and collarbones and parts of his shoulder looked red and sore, and there was some blood here too. She gasped.

"Doctor, what the hell?" She quickly undid a few more buttons until she could push the shirt completely off of his shoulders. "Is this what they did to you?"

He nodded, not meeting her eyes. "They attached pads, electrocuted, just about did everything smaller than sending a bolt of lightning through me." He glanced up, but Rose didn't even manage a smirk. She could feel the itchy feeling that indicated tears building at the corners of her eyes. They had done this to him for no reason. They hadn't even needed him, they had said so. "They know quite a bit about Time Lord physiology, the skin's quite sensitive in this area so that was where they concentrated it."

Rose raked shaking fingers through her hair and kept her breathing even. Seeing Jenny sick and possibly dying had been awful, but what she was feeling now was pain of a totally different kind. Ever since the Doctor had been ambushed she had been battling feelings of helplessness and guilt. And now he was hurt, they had tortured and burned him and rooted around inside his head and she hadn't been able to do anything to stop them.

"I'll go get some more supplies, we'll fix you up, yeah?" Rose turned and walked out of the room, heading for the infirmary. By the time she was back with more of the cream the Doctor had said sped up healing, and an armful of plasters and bandages, the Doctor had given in and unbuttoned the last of his shirt buttons. He was just shaking his arms out of the ends of the sleeves when Rose entered the room. He laid the shirt beside him and was doing his best to appear casual about the whole affair. Rose gulped, certain that he could hear her from across the room.


	21. Chapter 21

_By the time she was back with more of the cream the Doctor had said sped up healing, and an armful of plasters and bandages, the Doctor had given in and unbuttoned the last of his shirt buttons. He was just shaking his arms out of the ends of the sleeves when Rose entered the room. He laid the shirt beside him and was doing his best to appear casual about the whole affair. Rose gulped, certain that he could hear her from across the room._

Sure, she had seen him without his shirt before, but this was different. It was different this time - not only because the Doctor being shirtless was a small step down the road towards something _happening, _but because she knew that this was a road that both she and the Doctor were headed down, with deliberate intent. Before she had lost him, him being shirtless would obviously have affected her, but now they were so close to making the leap to the next level of their relationship it made her slightly nervous on a whole other level.

Also he had a really nice chest.

But her eyes were quickly drawn back to the marks and the burns marring his collarbones, and concern for his pain quickly overtook the interest in the Doctor's chest that had been quite speedily taking over her mind.

"Does it hurt?" Rose asked as she crossed the room and sat down gently on the bed next to him. The mattress shifted under her weight and the Doctor moved ever so slightly closer to her.

"A bit, nothing I can't handle." Of course he wouldn't tell her how much it actually hurt. That would involve actually being direct for once.

"Thanks, that really helps," Rose muttered, deciding to start on his left shoulder and work her way across to his right. He shifted so that he was facing her more directly and she did the same, leaning forward to examine his wounds and most definitely not dwelling on the fact that his knee was brushing hers and that his face was close enough to hers that she could feel his breath on her cheek.

She worked in silence for a few minutes, the Doctor occasionally humming under his breath as he looked around the room, not letting his eyes rest on her for more than a few seconds at a time. He was acting quite casually, but Rose could sense the tension in his body even as he fought to conceal it from her.

"So if I hadn't seen these," Rose asked quietly as she bandaged a particularly nasty burn, not even glancing at the Doctor's face, "would you have even told me that you got hurt?"

He paused, and she could feel him looking at her. "Probably not. Like I said, I'll probably be healed by the morning, there's no need for you to be so worried."

But Rose pressed on regardless of his attempt to fob her off. "If I was hurt and I tried to hide it from you and you found out, you'd have me off to the medical room, quick as a wink, and you'd be all grumpy and serious and tell me off for not telling you about it. How is that fair?"

She actually looked at him this time, and he blinked several times as he took in what she had said. "You're certainly asking me a lot of questions."

"And you're certainly doing a good job of trying not to answer any of them. Go on then, is it fair that you're allowed to hide things from me but I can't hide them from you?"

She continued to apply cream to another burn to give him some time to think. She knew that it was taking a lot of effort for him not to just run away from this sort of thing.

"It's different."

"No it's not." Rose threw him a look and the Doctor sighed.

"Well I'm glad that's sorted then. I am sorry, I was oh so wrong and I see the light now, can we move on?" He raised his eyebrows sarcastically and pressed his lips together, looking at Rose expectantly, until she elbowed him hard in the ribs. He grinned and rubbed the spot that he was sure would be a bruise in the morning. "Just joking, sorry." Rose rolled her eyes but she had to smile, he was just so ridiculous and such an idiot and she was so in love with him that she almost laughed.

Rose stuck a plaster over the last cut and sighed. "There, all done. Imagine you'll be all healed by morning, but it doesn't hurt to be safe."

"True." The Doctor wriggled his shoulders a little bit. "Thanks for that, um, this, you know. Helping me." He gestured at his chest with his hands, slightly awkward movements underscored by the way his eyes flickered to hers and away again. "You're right, I wouldn't have said anything to you about it. Used to just soldiering on, I guess."

"Well that makes you an idiot then, doesn't it?" The Doctor looked at her and she wrinkled her nose cheekily at him, but he was giving her a look that didn't quite fit with the conversation they had been having.

All of a sudden she was staring into the Doctor's eyes and he was looking right back at her and she wasn't sure whether she could actually hear his heartbeat or whether it was just her own pulse thundering in her ears and he opened his mouth and... yawned.

A great, big jaw cracking yawn that was accompanied by him stretching his arms and tilting his head back. "Sorry," he muttered after the yawn had passed, "I'm just so tired. Been through a lot today, you know." He looked a little sheepish and Rose smiled fondly, knowing it was not his fault.

"Don't blame you," she said, "you could definitely use some sleep."

"I bet you could too."

Rose considered this, rolling her head from one side to the other and feeling how much tension there was in her neck, stretching out her arms and legs and suddenly becoming aware of the tiredness in her muscles. "Yep, me too."

"You can sleep here," the Doctor said, the words tumbling out of his mouth as he sleepily rubbed one eye. Rose could never get used to hearing the Doctor say those words.

When she looked beside her on the bed Rose found that the shorts and vest top she had been sleeping in were already there. She knew that at this moment her toothbrush was probably materialising in the ensuite bathroom. Sometimes the TARDIS was just so helpful. She scooped the clothes off the bed and left for the bathroom, hoping the Doctor would have the sense not to just fall asleep where he sat.

When she got back from getting changed the Doctor was already in bed. From the looks of things he was most likely only wearing his pants. Rose took a moment to wonder what sort of pants he wore, and as a line of Doctors paraded through her mind in various different types of underwear (including some rather lovely stockings and suspenders) she had to hold in a giggle. She quickly pulled back the covers and slipped in next to the Doctor. His bed was _huge_. Rose felt like she had to sort of swim across it underneath the duvet just to find the Doctor where he lay on the other side.

He wrapped an arm around her as she settled next to him, and by the time she had snuggled up against him she could tell from his breathing that he was asleep. It was such a strange sensation, being able to watch the Doctor resting, and Rose raised her head from the pillow slightly to take a look at his face.

His mouth was ever so slightly open, and his entire face looked so relaxed and peaceful in a way that she knew it never could when he was awake. Rose was aware that the Doctor had terrible nightmares sometimes; he always had done for as long as she had known him, but right now he was sleeping so calmly that she hoped the bad dreams wouldn't trouble him for tonight. He clearly needed the sleep after what he had been through today. She stroked a few locks of hair back gently from his forehead, and he moved his head unconsciously towards the touch of her hand.

Rose stretched her head up and pressed a gentle kiss to the corner of his mouth, before snuggling back down and resting her head against a part of his chest that was thankfully clear of injuries. She had come very close to losing him that day, and as she drifted off to sleep she took comfort in the warm, solid weight of his body beside her, definitely not going anywhere, at least for the moment.

After a couple of days trying to get back into their normal routine, or as normal as it ever got in the TARDIS, the Doctor brought up their date again – Rose was so shocked that he actually mentioned it that she could barely nod – and they arranged it for the next day.

Last time it had all gone so shockingly wrong. This time everything was going to plan.

Jenny was with Martha and Mickey, Jack had called to wish her luck, and she had spent half a day trawling through the TARDIS wardrobe for something perfect – the outfit she had chosen a few days ago for their original date just wasn't as nice as it had seemed at the time. She showered, dried her hair, put on her make-up and stood in front of her bed in her underwear, surveying the outfit she had finally decided on before she had to put it on.

The Doctor had assured her that there would be absolutely no running for their lives – not that she really quite believed him about that, he had a tendency to just fall into trouble – so Rose had decided on heels. Black ones, nothing too high or too fancy, but they went well with the dress that she had chosen. It was purple, dark but deep and vibrant, with delicate swirls of black embroidery that got thicker and more intricate as they extended towards the hemline of the dress. It had a skirt that flowed out from her waist, delicate black straps and a neckline that was low enough to show off just the right amount of cleavage – she had taken Jack's comment about seeing if the Doctor blushed to heart.

She took the time to make sure that the dress looked just right – the TARDIS had provided her with stockings rather than tights, and Rose was certain she could feel a sense of smugness in the hum of the ship and she tried to make sure they were even. Pulling on a little black shrug – she did not know where they were going, after all, it might be quite cold – Rose made her way to the console room. Her heels sounded odd on the floor and after so long with only the pad of her boots or trainers and the slap of the Doctor's converse. She made it to the doorway before stopping, taking a deep breath in and out and hoping she wasn't going to blush too much when the Doctor saw her. That moment of hesitation over with, she stepped into the room.

The Doctor was at the console with his back to her – Rose wondered whether he had done that on purpose – but as soon as he heard her approach he span around, his look of slight surprise and apprehension giving way to an unreadable expression as his dark eyes travelled from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. He was wearing a black tail coat, complete with black trousers, waist coat and bow tie. She was amused to see that he still had his black converse on with this ensemble, and as she took in his incredibly handsome appearance, his face lit up with an enormous grin. She could not help but grin back, laughing a little and twisting her hands together, and the tension eased a little.

"What do you think?" The Doctor did a little twirl before thrusting his hands in his pockets and cocking his head on one side as he waited for Rose's approval.

Rose took a moment to look him over again, enjoying the opportunity to leave him in suspense for a moment or two. His hair was carefully spiked into disarray, his sideburns were neat and his clothes were all clean and tidy, even his normally muddy shoes. His eyes were sparkling as he looked at her.

"You'll do I suppose," Rose said, watching as the Doctor's face fell just a tiny bit. "I'm joking!" she laugh, holding up her hands before his eyes got all big and sad, "you look great, Doctor."

He held his head high and preened. "Well, I was aiming for 'great', so that's alright then."

After a little bit of silence Rose gave a pointed cough. The Doctor's head flicked towards her and she spread her arms and nodded downward, indicating her dress. "I was just about to say," the Doctor told her crossly, but Rose simply shook her head at him, pressing her lips together to hide a smile.

She watched the Doctor's eyes track over her yet again, and twirled around for him just as he had done for her. She must've been more nervous than she thought, because the act of turning made her a little bit unsteady, her legs slightly shaky as they fought to keep her balanced. It must be the heels.

When she faced him again he was still just looking at her. "This is the bit where you actually say something."

He smiled – not a grin, but a genuine smile that seemed to have risen onto his face from deep inside him. "You look beautiful." Those three words were full of awe and delight, and Rose had to laugh.

"Considering?" Her tongue crept between her teeth and she saw the memory flickering in his eyes.

"Of course," he said nonchalantly, spinning to flick a control on the console before turning back to her, "considering you're not me."

Rose was about to retort when the TARDIS thumped and halted, and she looked at the Doctor. "We're here?" He nodded.

"Well go on then, I need your approval on my choice of location." He folded his arms and nodded towards the TARDIS doors. Rose practically sprinted down the ramp, not bothering to disguise how thrilled she was, the trepidation of a few minutes ago taking a back seat in her mind.

She opened the door and looked out. It was early evening apparently, and the air was cool but not cold on her skin. She looked around, through the branches of trees, across the pavement and over the river to where she could just spot a familiar landmark.

"Paris?" Rose dragged herself back in the TARDIS and stared at the Doctor with wide, excited eyes. "You are taking me on a date in Paris?!" The Doctor nodded and grinned as Rose skipped a couple of steps and span around, giddy and laughing.

"Of course Paris," the Doctor cried, bounding over to the open doors, "after all, it _is _the city of love." He drew out the word, rolling on his tongue as he waggled his eyebrows at her.

Rolling her eyes, Rose shoved him unceremoniously through the doors. "Come on lover boy, gimme some romance."

The Doctor turned back to face her, bowing and offering her his hand. Rose took it with a smile, and allowed him to lead her out into the evening air, the blue TARDIS door swinging shut behind her with a click.


	22. Chapter 22

**Took a while, but I got there in the end. The date is here in all its glory, so the next one will - you've guessed it - be smut. Just so you're prepared :P**

Rose was sure that the Doctor had probably been to Paris hundreds of times during his life, and knew where he was going like the back of his hand, but for all that he seemed to content for them to simply wonder and explore. Rose did not notice if her heels hurt her feet, if the evening air began to get colder and seep through her dress – there could probably have been a hurricane and she would have been pretty much oblivious.

"So why Paris?" she asked him as they left the TARDIS behind, walking hand in hand beside the Seine, "I mean, I bet there's a million beautiful places in the universe that you could have taken me. Not that I mind, Paris is perfect, but I just wanted know?"

The Doctor tilted his head to one side, frowning slightly, and Rose could immediately guess what he was going to say.

"I'm not sure." She laughed, and the Doctor did too. "I mean, we're doing this human thing, and there are loads of other places we could have gone, but we go to amazing places every day. If we're going to have a date, then we're going to do it properly, and there's nowhere more proper for a date than Paris."

Rose nodded. "I agree, nowhere properer." She grinned, tongue poking out between her teeth.

"Well, Rose Tyler, welcome to Paris, the properest place on Earth." He spread his arms wide and looked around him. Rose was practically skipping along, linking her arm through his. He looked down at her and grinned, pulling her close to him and leaning in until their noses were nearly brushing.

They continued along the river bank and the Doctor pointed out the interesting sights that surrounded them, laughing at Rose's delighted squeal when he showed her Notre Dame, its symmetrical towers reaching up towards the sky. They meandered almost aimlessly, content simply to be in each other's company, but something was bothering Rose.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked as Rose frowned slightly, turning to watch a large group of people as they walked past, chattering loudly about something or other.

Rose sighed. "It's nothing, it's just... it feels odd that they're all talking English. I love the fact that the TARDIS translates for me, but there's something strange about a trip to Paris where no-one's speaking French, even if I can't really understand any French anyway."

"I can sort that if you like." Rose's face brightened.

"You can?"

The Doctor nodded, smiling. "I have a telepathic connection to the TARDIS, I can tell her to let you hear what everyone's really saying, just for a bit. It'll wear off after a while, but it'll help you feel the atmosphere better."

Rose blinked for a few seconds. "Right then, let's do it."

He hesitated. "It'll mean a little bit of telepathy. Not me going into your mind or anything, but I'm the one with a link to the TARDIS so it'll have to go through me, and it'll only be temporary. I just know how cross you were the first time the TARDIS translated things for you."

Grinning, Rose nodded. "I remember. It's OK, I know what I'm getting into this time. Go for it."

The Doctor closed his eyes and touched his fingers to her temples. Rose couldn't really feel anything in her mind, apart from a slight fizzing sensation that she couldn't quite describe. All she really knew was that when the Doctor pulled away and opened his eyes, all of a sudden the voices in the air were French, and she hadn't even been aware of them changing.

"Thankyou!"

He grinned and took her hand, and together they set off again into the magic of an evening in Paris.

To be honest, Rose could probably have just continued to walk around the city for the entire night, taking in the sounds and the atmosphere and the beautiful colours of a sky that was so nearly dipping into a sunset, but her stomach seemed to be protesting that idea. The Doctor took them to a tiny little restaurant not far from the river, and they sat at the table outside and people-watched as the waiter left to fetch their drinks. The evening was warm enough, so there were plenty of people on the street for them to surreptitiously stare at.

They managed to make conversation about fairly trivial things throughout the meal – which had been thoroughly delicious –and now as they sat comfortably in the streetlight, Rose thought that she could probably talk to the Doctor forever without running out of things to say to him.

Rose was laughing at the Doctor's story about the time he had meant to arrive in Paris and had ended up landing the TARDIS in the middle of a volcano, when he stretched out his hand and took hers where it had been laying on the table. Rose paused, as though the touch of his fingers had suddenly short circuited her brain.

When she looked into his eyes, Rose could see quite obviously that the Doctor was still nervous – possibly scared, maybe even still doubting that this, doing things properly, was a good idea. But despite the hesitant look in his big, brown eyes, his grip was firm, and the small smile he gave her was anything but scared.

"So, will Jenny just be perfectly alright now, just like that?" Rose chose a topic that she knew would provoke conversation fairly easily. It might have been a bit of a distraction technique, but right at that moment she needed it.

"Oh yeah," the Doctor said, taking a sip of water but all the while keeping his other hand entwined with hers, "no side effects from the toxin or the antidote. You've seen her, she's all back to normal – bossy as ever, but so adorable that you'll do what she wants anyway."

Rose laughed. "Oh come on, she's not that bad. Nowhere near as bad as you, and, considering she's got the same genes, it's probably a miracle."

"Oi!" Rose laughed, thinking that he sounded quite like Donna when he said that, but not wanting to bring it up. What had happened to Donna had caused the Doctor a lot of pain, and Rose was still sure that he wasn't quite ready to talk about it just yet. Besides, there was something else that she really needed to talk to him about right now.

"Doctor, she..." Rose hesitated. She hadn't been going to tell him this, at least not until she'd sorted out her own feelings on the subject. She had no idea how the Doctor was going to react, but in that moment she needed to know what he thought. Tonight everything was changing, she could feel it.

"What is it, Rose?" He looked worried, brows contracting, and she could practically hear his brain going a mile a minute.

Taking a deep breath, Rose closed her eyes and counted to three before opening them and beginning to speak. "Jenny was asking me about her mum." The Doctor's face showed confusion, but also a tiny bit of sadness. Rose had never considered the idea that Jenny not having a mother was something the Doctor ever thought about. He seemed so content with just him and her together. "She—we were sitting together the other night and I was reading her a book, I think you were doing some work on the TARDIS or something. But then out of the blue she just turned to me and says 'mummy'. And she pointed at the book and there was a picture of a mum on the page, and I said yes, she was right, but then she turned to me and pointed at me and said it again. It almost freaked me out, a bit too much like that boy in the gas mask for my liking." The Doctor laughed at that and Rose did too, looking up at the ceiling and shaking her head. "Years ago and I still dream about it sometimes."

"The day when everybody lived," the Doctor murmured, letting go of Rose's hand to rub the back of his neck in that familiar way, "feels like centuries ago, doesn't it? Sorry, you go on." He shook his head as though clearing it and gestured towards her.

"Right well, er..." Rose fumbled for a second. "Well like I said, she said that to me and I just didn't know what to say to her. I mean, I'm not her mum am I, she doesn't actually have one, but I couldn't think of how to explain it, so I just sort of distracted her. There might be a lack of banana cake in the kitchen, she took quite a bit of distracting, sorry." A flicker of a smile crossed the Doctor's face, but Rose could see that he was deep in thought. She waited a few moments in silence, looking around at the beautiful spot they were sitting in and thinking that the Doctor really had a good eye for these sorts of things. If they ever had another date, she might get him to choose again. It seemed when he really wanted to he could manage to find a place where Rose could actually wear heels without having to take them off so she could make a run for it.

"I'm so sorry Rose." She jerked her head up and was surprised to see the Doctor at his most apologetic, eyes wide and lips pressed together in what could have been regret or guilt. "I didn't mean to do this to you, I didn't want you to feel obligated to do anything, but Jenny, she... she loves you so much, I can see it just by looking at her. " He rubbed his eyes with his hands. "Oh I don't know, Rose, she was always going to get attached to you. Like father like daughter, as they say." When Rose chuckled the Doctor allowed himself to smile, dragging one hand over his face. "You said you were staying and that you love Jenny and all that, but that's not the same thing as being her mum and I don't want you to do that just because you feel like you shou-"

"Doctor!" Rose interrupted him and dragged his hands towards her across the table, entrapping them in her own and waiting in silence, forcing him to look at her. "Listen to me. You might feel like I'm being forced into this, but when have I ever let you force me into doing anything I didn't want to do?" The Doctor considered for a moment before finally nodding his assent, a slight smile on his lips. "Good. The point is that I want this. Jenny turned around and she looked at me and I just knew. I'm gonna be with you forever, right? All this means is that I'm gonna be with Jenny too, 'kay? I was just worried that you might not want it."

The Doctor shook his head fiercely. "Rose, a year ago I never thought I'd see you again, I never thought I'd be a father again, I never considered any of this but it's happened. If I'm being made domestic then all I can say is that I wouldn't want it to happen any other way, with anyone else."

Before she knew it Rose was blinking tears away from her eyes.

"Wow." It seemed like an understatement but it was all Rose could feel right now, so she said it again. "Wow, OK, so I'm her mum now. Sort of. Oh wow, crap, this is, this is really fast and kind of strange but it's good... wow."

"Rose, you can stop saying 'wow'," the Doctor said soothingly, rubbing his thumb in circles on the back of her hand. "It's fine – to be honest, I doubt anything will actually change from how it is now. We've been looking after her together for weeks – the job's the same, the only difference is the title."

Rose smirked, but her smile faded as a thought occurred to her, and she suddenly felt extremely sad. "I wish mum could have seen this," she said quietly, and felt a tear drip down her nose. "She thought I'd never do this, not if I was with you. Not that she really minded or anything, 'cause I was happy, but you could tell she would have loved a grandchild or two. I just wish I could let her know. You know, that I'm gonna do the mum thing. She would've been giving me advice and forcing us to land at home so she could spend time with Jenny and all that stuff."

Rose was aware that her voice was beginning to crack with emotion, and she trailed off. In a second the Doctor's hands were gone from hers, but before she could really register it happening the Doctor was gone from his seat, crouching down next to her chair and enfolding her in a hug. He seemed to know that he didn't really have to say anything, that there wasn't anything he could say that would make Rose feel less sad about not being able to see her mum. This might be the life she had chosen, but nothing was ever perfect.

"Sorry."

"Rose, don't apologise. You don't need to apologise for having feelings, you're not a Cyberman." Rose let out a little giggle, and the Doctor put a hand to the side of her face, stroking her cheek and just letting her know that he was there until she managed to breathe evenly again.

"Actually, I had something I wanted to say to you."

"Oo, what?" the Doctor asked, still not going back to his seat.

"It's just, if I'm going to be Jenny's mother – oh god that sounds so weird – then I thought maybe I should sort things out with her father first." Rose smile and showed her tongue between her teeth, because she knew what it did to the Doctor when she looked at him like that, and hoped that sorting things out with him was going to be as fun as she suspected it would be.

"Ah yes, that was the point of all this, wasn't it." The Doctor waved a hand vaguely at their surroundings. "Well, Miss Tyler, since it's our first date-"

"Ah, not the first," Rose reminded him.

"'Course not," the Doctor agreed, "well, since this is at least our second date, I think that it's only proper for us to—hang on, don't people normally go on dates _before _they live together?"

Rose laughed. "I think so. But I think people normally go on dates before they fall in love with each other as well."

It had just slipped out, and Rose was a little bit worried that her saying that would freak the Doctor out, but he just continued to smile, saying nothing at all.

They were walking next to the river on their way back one, coming to a stop underneath the trees and the TARDIS was in sight now but Rose didn't want to wait to get back home before she did this. She turned very slowly towards him, placing her hands on his shoulders and staring up into his eyes with all the determination he had seen in her face a thousand times before.

"Doctor, this was the best date ever." He puffed out his chest proudly, and Rose rolled her eyes. "Yes yes, you were brilliant, but there's something you forgot that would have made it completely perfect."

All of a sudden the slightly manic joy and pride and smugness was gone from his face. His eyes seemed to focus completely on hers, shutting out everything around them until his gaze felt almost too intense. Almost, but not quite.

"Well," he murmured, bringing a hand up to her face and letting his thumb slowly brush across her cheek, "I'm not quite sure what that could be. But you know, you could show me, if you want."

Rose bit her lip teasingly and raised her eyebrows, a smile spreading across her face as she leaned forwards and very gently pressed her lips to his.

It was a truly beautiful evening, the soft breeze rustled in the leaves above their heads and the river flowed beside them and there probably could not have been a more romantic spot for this moment to happen. Rose, however, was not aware of any of this, because the moment the Doctor's lips touched hers she was aware of nothing but the feel of him and the taste of him and the storm of emotions that were running rampant through her body.

She opened her mouth to his immediately, not bothering to go through the formalities of chaste kissing for a few moments before getting their tongues involved. The Doctor tasted just fantastic. When he brought up a hand to tangle in her hair and guide her head to the optimum angle (he had probably calculated it to be perfect - Rose was sure she could feel his fingers scorching the back of her skull. Not wanting to be outdone, Rose plunged her hands into his hair. His really great hair, it turned out, was even greater when she got to touch it properly and thoroughly. She ran her hands through it wildly, not caring that she was making a mess – the rumpled, love struck look really worked for the Doctor anyway.

His arms wrapped around her waist now, pulling her to him until their bodies were pressed together tightly, all the time kissing her to within an inch of her life. Good god, he knew how to use his tongue. His lips were soft and exerting just the right amount of pressure on hers, and as she used her tongue to caress the inside of his mouth he let out a groan. Rose felt a feeling of triumph. She made the Doctor groan – she must be pretty good at this herself.

As she pull the Doctor's bottom lip into her mouth and sucked on it gently – she had wanted to do that for a long time – Rose was aware of his hands moving up and down her back, as though the Doctor was trying to touch as much of her as he possibly could. The urge to feel his hands on her bare skin was almost unbearable, and Rose had time to wish she had not worn a dress, so his hands could have found a way in under her top to the skin of her lower back.

They could have gone on for a lot longer, but in the end it was shouts from passing teenagers on bikes and a couple of wolf-whistles that broke the two apart. Rose pulled back and placed her hands on the Doctor's shoulders, to steady herself as much as anything else. She had never been so thoroughly snogged before in her life, and it had left her legs a bit wobbly. The Doctor looked a bit shaky himself, but his eyes were shining with exuberance and triumph and he was doing that slightly goofy grin that she just adored, with a tiny touch of smugness that was probably coming from her dazed expression.

"Well," Rose began, a bit breathlessly, "that was... good." She nodded her head, taking a couple of deep breaths. "Yep, definitely good."

The Doctor nodded back. "Good is good." He stood awkwardly for a second before gesturing towards the blue box along the riverbank. "TARDIS?"

Rose grinned. "TARDIS." The look in his eyes was almost criminal as he grabbed her hand and set off at a run. This was going to be interesting.


	23. Chapter 23

**This one took a while, computer viruses and me being rubbish at smut meant this took longer. Hope you enjoy!**

They slammed into the TARDIS in a way that was generally prefaced with a run for their lives. Only this time they weren't running away from something – more toward something. And at that moment, that something was the nearest bed. As much as Rose had fantasised about sex in the console room, she knew that this time she wanted a bed. More specifically the Doctor's bed.

The TARDIS door shut behind them and the Doctor pressed Rose against it, practically pushing her through the wood with the power of his lips on hers. Rose reciprocated with enthusiasm, pushing back with all her might and not letting him take all the control for himself. Then he did something she had privately always wished he would do. He scooped her up into his arms and strode quickly across the console room, practically sprinting as he reached the corridor. He was grinning at her, his eyes bright and loving and chocolatey brown.

"Knew you'd like that," he said as he nudged open his bedroom door with his elbow and stepped inside. He placed her gently onto the floor, and Rose had to take a moment to find her balance. Something about the look he was giving her as he stood there with his hands in his pockets was making her lose it slightly.

"How did you know?" she asked. God, she wasn't getting nervous now, was she? Standing in the semi darkness of the Doctor's room, the situation had suddenly become very real. Rose fought to stop herself twisting her fingers together in an action the Doctor would immediately recognise as trepidation.

"That time when you got hurt on Casta 7." The Doctor was not moving, and Rose could see the nostalgia flickering in his eyes as he remembered. "That giant insect that spat acid on you. You were clutching your side and you were moaning and covered in blood, and I carried you all the way to the TARDIS and into the infirmary. Once I'd fixed it you were tired, so I said I'd take you to bed, remember? You laughed at that, asked me if I was trying to seduce you. I think the painkillers went to your head." He shook his head fondly, a smile curling at his lips. Rose was smiling too by now, and she took a couple of steps closer to him as he continued. "I picked you up and you snuggled into my jacket. You were nearly asleep when we got to your room and I could barely get you to let go of me. Just before you dropped off you said 'We should do this again sometime', and then you just slept. I think you were still wearing your shoes, but you didn't seem to notice."

"I remember," Rose said softly. "When I woke up in the morning I was wearing my t shirt and jeans, but I didn't have my trainers or hoodie on, and I was under the duvet. That was you."

"Yep," he said, popping the 'p' in the way he always did. "Wanted you even then – back with the, you know." He gestured at the sides of his head, indicating large ears.

Rose giggled, inching another couple of steps closer. "Yeah, I wanted you too. You and your leather jacket and insisting that you danced even though you would never prove it to me."

"I wanted to. I just couldn't." She understood what he meant, even if he couldn't properly explain it aloud. He dropped his head, and Rose could see the sadness in his eyes. "We wasted so much time."

"Shh. We're here now, that's what matters." And now Rose knew she could not possibly wait for this anymore. She pulled at his bow tie until it came undone and let it drop to the floor. She leaned in for a kiss as she pushed his tailcoat unceremoniously off his shoulders, leaving him in shirt and waistcoat.

Sometimes she enjoyed the thought of removing each of his layers. Today she just wanted them off.

Once the waistcoat was removed, the Doctor seemed to decide that it was his turn to do some clothing removal. He drew Rose to him, reaching around her back to find the zip keeping her dress closed. He pulled it down slowly, savouring the moment, looking over her shoulder as her back was revealed to him, inch by inch.

Once the zip was undone her dress slid down her arms and off her body, but Rose couldn't feel it in herself to feel shy about the Doctor taking off her clothes. She had wanted it for too long now.

The Doctor played with the strap of her black bra. "Always imagined your underwear to be pink, for some reason. Just seemed very you."

"Well, I do have a multitude of bras," Rose said nonchalantly, "I could always put another one on if you want." She grinned cheekily at him as his eyes travelled downwards from her face.

"You know, in all the moments I've imagine removing your bra, it was never to put a different one on again. I don't think I could forgive myself if I let that happen."

Rose smirked and used this pause in the Doctor's actions to rip open his waistcoat, yanking the buttons open and shoving it off of his shoulders. The shirt went next, a few buttons popping off due to the force with which Rose dragged it off his body, and she spent a few moments exploring his chest with eager hands.

Once the Doctor was in just his trousers, however – and his shoes, although he was pushing them off as best he could – he decided it was time to remove the rest of Rose's garments. His hands smoothed their way up from her lower back, and he swiftly unclipped the clasp of her bra. Rose had always assumed he would fumble adorable at that moment, but it appeared the Doctor was not a novice at removing a bra. Either that or all that work on the TARDIS had helped his dexterity. Personally Rose thought the second scenario was far more likely.

Her bra slid down off her arms and landed on the floor atop her dress. The Doctor's eyes fixed on her chest and he unconsciously licked his lips. Rose had to smile at the awe on his face.

"Now who's looking?" she asked, letting her tongue slip out between her teeth as the Doctor looked up at her and grinned.

"I think more than looking is probably in order."

"Go ahead."

The Doctor was still smiling as he leaned in to kissing her again. As his hands came up to her chest, Rose began to work at the button and zip that were her most immediate obstacles to more naked Doctor. He rolled one of her already hard nipples between his fingers and she gasped, leaning towards him without conscious thought. For a few moments she was distracted from her task, but as the Doctor leaned down to take one of her nipples in his mouth, Rose moved lightning fast, yanking down the zip and pulling the Doctor's trousers down his legs in one movement.

To his credit he did not protest, kicking the trousers off his feet and letting Rose pull down his boxers, all the while continuing the single minded pursuit of learning every inch of her breasts with his tongue.

Once his boxers – TARDIS blue, to her amusement – were down, Rose grasped his length in her hand. This movement provoked an immediate reaction in the Doctor, who released her nipple – she almost whimpered at the loss of his mouth – looking at her with a different sort of fire in his eyes as he very deliberately hooked his fingers into the elastic of her knickers and dragging them down her legs.

Once they were naked it all seemed to happen very fast. Kissing and more kissing and hands groping everywhere they could reach. He pushed her gently backwards until she fell onto the bed, but not before she grabbed his shoulders and pulled him down with her. They landed in a heap, the Doctor still licking his way down Rose's collarbone as though nothing had happened.

She could feel him pressing hard into her stomach, and all of a sudden the urge to have him inside her was the most important thing she could think of. She snaked a hand down between them, taking hold of him and feeling him – he hissed in pleasure and then groaned as she stroked him once, twice, three times. She grinned.

The Doctor raise an eyebrow at her smug expression. "Fine, if you're going to play it like that then." He batted her hand away from him and placed his hand between her legs. Rose gasped again as he slipped two fingers inside of her, knowing he could feel how wet she was. He pulled his fingers out with a grin, flicking her clit so her hips shot up off the bed before removing his hand and taking his turn at looking unbearably smug. "Seems to me you're more than ready, Rose Tyler."

"Well get on with it then," Rose ordered, smirking as he gave her a small salute before positioning himself at her entrance.

He looked at her questioningly, and she could see his tenuous grasp on control was beginning to break, all joking forgotten. "Rose, can I..."

She nodded. "Of course. I want you."

He thrust inside her and Rose gasped. The Doctor groaned loudly, and she looked up at him through the haze of pleasure that was clouding her vision and saw that his eyes were shut. His mouth was ever so slightly open and even though he wasn't smiling at all he was managing to radiate happiness. Rose had never seen him look so beautiful.

Of course, after that moment of clarity, he began thrusting and Rose was lost of a world of her legs around his waist and his lips sliding on hers and her moans and pleas of "more" and "Doctor" and "stop now and I will kill you", which raised a breathless chuckle from the Doctor even as he expelled his own stream of pleasure addled gibberish.

Despite her growing need to reach orgasm, Rose thought that right now, she could have stayed in this moment forever. Having sex with the Doctor was just perfection.

He began to thrust faster, his need overshadowing his wish to prolong this, and Rose buried one of her hands in his hair as her pleasure spiralled higher, thinking "next time, next time we'll go slow and meaningful."

It only took a few more thrusts and the Doctor's thumb rubbing tiny circles on her clit for Rose to shatter, hearing her slightly hoarse cry of pleasure as though it wasn't hers. She felt the Doctor tense above her and knew that he had reached completion as well, and she shuddered and gasped her way through her orgasm with him, perfectly in tune for a brief moment.

Rose floated gently down from her high, and the Doctor slowed, slipping out of her and flopping down next to her on his back, both of them breathing heavily. Rose curled into his side, a stupidly large grin spreading across her face. As dates went, this one had been pretty damn fantastic.

After a few minutes of cuddling and listening to their combined heartbeats slow, Rose slipped into the bathroom to clean herself up. The Doctor did the same after she was finished, and in no time they were back in his enormous bed together, the Doctor pressed against Rose's back and his arms around her waist. Rose placed her hands over his, enjoying the way every line of his body pressed into hers.

"Well," she said finally, "we finally did that."

They both laughed at that, the Doctor nuzzling her cheek. "Feels like we should've been doing it all along, doesn't it?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah, it does. Well, we got there in the end." She pressed herself even more tightly against him and closed her eyes, drifting gently off to sleep and just about feeling the gentle kiss he pressed upon her cheek.

Rose woke up in what might have been the morning, though on the TARDIS it was hard to tell, with the Doctor's arm curled around her. She snuggled into his chest and sighed happily, before it occurred to her that she never really expected the Doctor to be there when she woke up. She knew he didn't normally sleep that often, and he had slept almost the whole night a few days ago – she had assumed he would be up and about hours before she was.

She felt a warm tingly feeling spread through her as she realised he was staying because he wanted to be with her. All of a sudden the events of last night flooded back to her, all in vivid detail. Rose's eyes popped open of their own accord, and she was sure she felt a blush spreading all over her face.

She had had sex with the Doctor.

All that time, everything they'd been through and the times when she thought she'd never see him again, and it had finally happened. It wasn't just the sex – though that had been fantastic – it was the fact that they had finally taken this step. They were together now, officially and finally and completely. The Doctor wanted her just as much as she wanted him, and just that knowledge made her deeply happy in a way she hadn't been for a long time.

"Are you blushing?" a familiar voice murmured in her ear.

Rose looked up to see the Doctor peering down at her with a soft smile on his lips. "I was just... remembering last night."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "It was fun, wasn't it?" He leaned down and kissed her, and Rose stretched up to reciprocate, moaning grumpily when he pulled away after a few moments.

He chuckled. "No need to whine, we've got plenty of time to get to that. Time machine, remember? We can stay in here as long as we want."

"Yeah, but you won't be able to keep away from Jenny for that long. I know you, Doctor, and as much as I want to stay in bed with you forever – don't get cocky," she warned as he began to preen, "- you'll miss her before long. I'll miss her."

"You make a fair point," the Doctor sighed. "Still, I'd imagine that won't be for a while yet. Fancy seeing stars again?"

Rose grinned and rolled onto her back, the Doctor leaning over her. His lips were just about to touch hers again when he leaned too far. "Doctor!" Rose shrieked as they both toppled over the edge of the bed, dragging the quilt with them.

"Doctor, are you alright?" Rose was lying directly on top of him, and she quickly pushed herself up and let her own arms take her weight. The Doctor was groaning dazedly and blinking, but he looked up at her after a few seconds and smiled.

"I'm fine, though if kissing you is always going to be this traumatic then I might have to wear a helmet."

"Oh don't," Rose replied, smirking, "then I wouldn't be able to do this." She plunged her hands into his hair and dragged them through it, scratching her nails a little on his scalp and pulling just a bit. He just about purred, eyes flickering shut.

"OK, helmet's a no go," he said hoarsely as Rose moved her hands to stroke his sideburns.

It came to Rose in a flash that she was sitting very naked on top of a very naked Doctor on the floor of his bedroom, and she felt that tingling feeling again as total happiness spread through her. The Doctor seemed to notice her distraction, and took the opportunity to play with a lock of her hair, winding it through his fingers and peering at it curiously. Rose thought he would probably have put on his glasses if they had been at hand.

Now that was an idea.

"You know Doctor," Rose began, and the Doctor made a show of listening intently, rolling them over until he was hovering over her, pressing her into the floor slightly, "if we're staying here for a while, I think you should go and get your glasses."

"Can if you want Rose, though to be honest I doubt if they'd suit you."

Rose wrinkled her nose at him. "Oh ha ha," she said sarcastically, "you know what I mean. Those glasses of yours, they're... well they're very good on you. You should wear them more often, and definitely more often in bed."

The Doctor smirked at this assessment, leaning down towards her and staring into her eyes. "I might just do that, Rose Tyler. In fact, I think I'll go find them now. And I think I might take this with me." His hand wrapped firmly around the dark blue quilt that was half covering them both.

"Oh no you don't, it's cold in here, go get dressed if you're getting up." Immediately she regretted saying it – she didn't want the Doctor to get dressed again for quite a while.

The Doctor simply did one of his ridiculous childish grins at her before leaping up and yanking the quilt with him, leaving Rose lying on the floor, completely naked and gasping at the flood of cool air that swirled around her.

"You!" she shouted, pointing an accusing finger at him before jumping up and running after him as he sprinted around the other side of the bed, laughing hysterically as he leapt across it. He turned around on his knees and held up the duvet as an incredibly ineffective shield, but Rose was already upon him and she took him down with all the force of a stampeding elephant.

Of course, fighting turned very quickly to other activities, and Rose was grateful more than once over the next few hours that they had a time machine – they would never have gotten back to Martha's to pick Jenny up without the help of the TARDIS.


End file.
